The Girl From The Paper Lantern
by cheekybumbum
Summary: The aftermath...
1. Chapter 1

'Are you the new guy? Right, grab an apron and I'll show you how we run things around here.'

Warren Peace stood in the doorway of the Paper Lantern staring at the girl who just abrasively greeted him, if you could call it a greeting.

'Are you coming or not? Other people did want this job you know!' _Oh Lord this guy is slow, I knew we should have picked the redhead. Still, if he's awful there's plenty others willing to work._

Mutely, Warren did as she demanded and followed her into the kitchen. The girl was pretty, there was no doubt there. Between 5'7" and 5'8" she just reached Warren's shoulders, her blonde hair was tied up in a messy bun and she had piercing green eyes.

' – and then you stick the plates under the warmer. Any questions?' She gave him a withering look; this guy seemed to have about as many brain cells as a fish and the personality to match; though his attire suggested otherwise.

_Oh crap, wasn't listening_. 'Uh, yeah, pretty sure I got it all. So, when do I start?'

'Restaurant opens in five minutes so I'd say in about ten. You can ditch your stuff in here,' she opened a door leading to a small room with a battered sofa and table in it, 'and here,' she handed him an elastic from around her wrist, 'you'll have to tie your hair back.'

Warren stared at the band in her hand, 'It's purple,' he stated.

'Health and safety I'm afraid, if you don't like it, hand over your apron.'

'Fine,' he muttered. He needed the money more than he liked to admit. He and his Mom had gone through a bad patch recently so any money he could get was indispensable. Dishwashing certainly wasn't a glamorous job but waiting on people really wasn't his style.

'Ok so I'll see you at the end of the shift.' And with that the girl had breezed out of the door, pulling her hair free as she did so. He caught the beginning of what sounded like a very rehearsed welcome speech and then sat on the counter, waiting for the first dishes to come his way.

The next few hours passed in a blur of water, soap and shouts from angry Chinese men as Warren got in their way. He didn't see the blonde girl much, only a passing glimpse as she called up new orders.

'Ok, new guy, not bad for a first night. You'll need to step it up a bit tomorrow night, big family thing, happens once a month so be on your toes. There's like 500 of them so that's a lot of plates, got it? Right, so I'll see you tomorrow, don't be late.'

She was about to swing out of the door when she turned back, 'What's your name again?'

'Warren.' He wasn't going to give a last name if he could help it, you never knew if people would associate it with Baron Battle or not.

'Any last name? No? Ok.' As the door swung back and forth after her she called back, 'I'm Crystal and I'll see you tomorrow Mr. Peace!'

A/N: I know it's short chapter but read the next one please! This was just a setting up chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

Crystal was just about to put her key in the door when it swung open. She smiled; her mom must have seen her coming up the drive and pressed the release. As she dumped her stuff on the floor she heard the familiar whirr of her mom's electric wheelchair as she came up the hall.

'Hi sweetie, how was work?'

'Same old, same old,' Crystal replied cheerfully, 'I stopped off on the way home and picked up pizza.'

'You shouldn't waste your money on things like that Crystal,' her mom disapproved. 'Was the guy on time today? Do you think he'll work out?'

'I'm sure he'll be fine, really. Dishwashing doesn't exactly require qualifications. And I'll spend my money on what I like, you know we haven't had a treat in ages.'

She wheeled her mom into the front room balancing the pizza box on the handles. Once they were settled she turned off the lamp and sent up a dim light cloud. One of the useful things about being able to create and control light was that they saved a lot of money on the electric bill.

'Your father called,' her mom said through a mouthful of pizza.

'Oh? What did he want?'

'The usual, seeing how you are, if you're excited about becoming a sophomore, alleviating his guilt. He'd obviously forgotten you were working.'

They sat for a while in silence until, 'That reminds me, with school starting I don't want you working so many nights. Friday, Saturday and early Sunday are all I can allow you in good conscience to work.

'But Mom – '

'Don't you but Mom me Crystal. You need to do well at school, we can manage on the Hero Support checks.'

'Barely,' Crystal muttered.

_I'd forgotten about that. I always hate going back to school after the summer, losing out on the money. The checks are only just enough and with Dad's standing contribution of nil I doubt we can expect anything any time soon._

'That may be but we'll manage. We always do.'

'Well enjoy your pizza then. It'll be our last for a while.

Warren walked into the dark and empty house and flicked on the light. He saw an envelope on the hall table with his name scrawled across it.

_Had to fly, sudden conference, money in the bureau, back in a few days, look after yourself! Love Mom xxx p.s did you have a good first day at work?_

He sighed; he should be used to this by now, his mom up and leaving at odd occasions. Good job he'd brought food back from the restaurant really. He heated it with a wave of this hand and wandered into his living room staring at some mindless show as he ate.

Suddenly a thought about the girl from the Paper Lantern drifted across his brain. What had been her name again…? Christie, Kristin, Crystal!

Something had been bothering him about her all the way home – how had she known he was Warren Peace? And what did this mean? If anything! Still, there was nothing he could do about it now – and anyway, could you really be sacked based on your name? He was sure that was unconstitutional.

Warren wondered if the girl had been on a major power trip that day or whether she was always like that. If it were the latter, Warren could see that there would be a heated argument in the not too distant future.

Just then his thought process was interrupted by a sudden change to his 'regular viewing'.

'And breaking news this evening ladies and gentlemen. We have just learned that the notorious super-villain, Baron Battle, has escaped from his high security prison in a remote part of South America. It is believed that the Baron,' a picture flashed up on the screen, 'was aided, incredibly, by former hero Ice T…'

Crystal looked up in a start.

Was what she'd just heard true? She glanced over at her mother whose face had completely drained of colour. She guessed she had heard correctly then. Baron Battle was on the loose, the same Baron Battle that disabled her mother, Solar, at the peak of her career.

And her father had helped him to escape?


	3. Chapter 3

When Warren arrived at the Paper Lantern, it was only by the sheer power of his mind that he'd made it there. He hadn't wanted to go to work in case his mom rang but he hadn't wanted to lose his job so he'd had no choice but to show up.

Walking to work that day had been quite strange and isolated. Half the people had given him very suspicious looks (obviously the families 'in the know') and those who were oblivious to his parentage gave him a wide berth anyway but he suspected that was more to do with his attire than anything else. He was dressed in his standard black but he suspected the scowl displayed on his face as he trudged through the rain was more off-putting than anything else was.

His father mostly dominated his thoughts but there was always more concern for his mom. She, of course, was freelance so there was no office he could call and her cell was still switched off. He was really worried – not only for her safety but also for his own as well.

What is his father showed up on the doorstep? What would he do then? There was no way he could fight him!

As he meandered up the stairs from the back entrance, the restaurant was still dark. This was probably due to the fact that Warren had arrived half an hour early for work that day. It wasn't that he was overcome with a desire to wash dishes or anything, he just couldn't stay in the silent house by himself any longer. It was so quiet all the time Warren was beginning to doubt his own sanity. He'd had to get out of there, even if was only to rinse left over Chinese food down the drain.

He sat in the staff room in the dark, listening to his music until Crystal came in and flicked the light on.

'Jesus, Warren, you scared me! Sitting in the dark all by yourself! What are you doing here so early? The restaurant doesn't open for another,' she paused to check her watch, 'twenty minutes!'

Lazily, Warren looked up at her, pulling out his earphones before he answered her.

'I had nothing better to do at home.' He stated simply. 'What about you? You're here pretty early too.'

'I'm usually here much earlier but I got waylaid.'

She paused, thinking about how she'd spent much of the day soothing her mother about her father's apparent defection to the dark side.

'I have to set everything up, lay the places, light the candles, you know. Usually I have more time than this but seeing as you're here, you can help!'

Warren took hold of the tray of cutlery thrust into his hands as Crystal wandered around the restaurant with serviettes.

'Last night,' Warren started curiously, 'how did you know my last name?'

'Huh? Oh, it was on your application form. I'm not a mind reader!' she laughed. 'It's weird that I won't do this again 'til next week,' Crystal commented as she arranged the cutlery.

'Why, what's happening?' Warren asked.

'What with sophomore year starting, my mom doesn't want me working so much. She says I need to concentrate on my schoolwork. I can see her point, I'll just miss the money!'

'God, yeah I'd forgotten school was starting up again. Which one do you go to?'

'Oh, um,' _Oh shit, what do I say? I can't say Sky High, what will he think?_

'Crystal?' Warren prompted.

'Yeah, sorry, it's…a private one just outside of the city. What about you?'

Luckily Warren had prepared for this one. He wasn't going to blurt out that he'd just transferred to Sky High to finish out high school – what if she knew about it?

'I'm going to one in the city, I transferred there after we moved at the beginning of summer,' he lied smoothly.

'Aren't you going to miss your friends?' she asked inquisitively.

'I didn't really have many – it's cos of me that we moved actually.'

'Why, what did you – I'm sorry, that's really rude – you don't have to answer that,' Crystal looked down, blushing furiously.

'Don't worry, I don't mind. I got into a lot of trouble at my last school – fighting and stuff. We had to move so I could get a fresh start.'

Amazingly, Warren found himself opening up to this girl; maybe yesterday had just been a bad day for her. She was the first person he'd met here and he was basically telling her his life story!

Then, just like that, all the thoughts about his father came flooding back. If he weren't careful, he'd end up telling her about him as well. Suddenly, Warren didn't feel like continuing the conversation anymore.

'Well, if we're done here I think I'll go get set up back there,' he said hurriedly, grabbing the cutlery tray and moving extremely rapidly back into the depths of the kitchen which was now alive with the sounds of the chefs.

_Was it something I said?_ Crystal wondered but her thoughts were soon curtailed by a knocking on the restaurant door. They were supposed to have opened ten minutes ago and the manager's family were standing in the rain, not getting any drier!

_Shit! It's his family tonight!_ 'Warren!' she yelled, 'it's Mr. Lee's family in tonight! You're going to have to be really quick on those plates tonight so we can keep up! They eat a hell of a lot of food!'

The knocking repeated, more insistently this time and Crystal hurried to open the door. Warren sighed, so much for her having an off day yesterday, she was abrasive all the time! Was all this really worth it for $5 an hour? He doubted it but everyone had to have a lousy first job right?

The evening was manic. Order after order was called up and Warren washed dishes furiously. By the end of the night he was very wet, wrinkly and was sure he'd washed every plate in the building at least twice.

Dishwashing at the Paper Lantern was a pretty solitary job – for some reason there was only one of him – so no one noticed if every so often he waved his hand over the water to get it hot enough or over the plates to get them dry for the next lot of food.

It was 11pm by the time he'd stacked his final plate. His arms and back were aching and as he made his way into the back of the kitchen where the 'staff room' was, he stopped suddenly. He could hear guitar playing coming from inside and a dim glow escaped from under the door, as did the first notes of Sidewalks by Story of the Year. He smiled; it had been the track he was listening to earlier.

The door was slightly ajar and Warren pushed it open further and surprisingly (or not, who else could it have been?) he saw Crystal sitting on the table cradling a guitar, playing softly to herself.

She appeared to be crying but Warren wasn't sure. Her back was facing him and her hair hung about her face but she definitely wasn't happy.

'Crystal, are you ok?' he said softly.

'What?'

She hurriedly wiped her face and turned around to face him.

'How long have you been standing there? Don't you know it's rude? Anyway, what are you still doing here so late? You don't get paid extra for staying after hours you know!' she snapped.

Truth be told, she wasn't angry, she was just surprised. She felt somewhat violated, he'd been watching her when she felt pretty vulnerable.

'I only came to get my bag and then I saw you were upset. I wanted to see if you were alright, see if I make that mistake again!' he snapped.

'Yeah, well, I'm fine so you don't have to worry. Here's your bag,' she thrust it at him, 'I'll see you next weekend.'

'You know what? One day you're going to need someone else you know. Actually, it's no wonder no one wants to be around you, what with your _gracious_ manner.' He snarled.

Suddenly, even though he'd been trying to control it, a single flame popped up on his right arm.

'Jesus, Warren! You're on fire!' Crystal shrieked.

'Oh shit, what?' he said, glancing at the offending item. He shut it off. 'It's nothing, don't worry about it. See you next week.' He said quickly and almost ran out of the building.

Crystal looked after him with a bemused expression on her face as she listened to his footsteps clattering down the metal fire escape behind the building.

_What had all that been about?_


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Sorry it's been so long since I last updated! Hope I haven't lost any readers. Please R and R!

'Crystal! Crystal honey it's time to get up! The bus is leaving in half an hour!'

Groggily, Crystal heaved herself out of bed. She hadn't seen this side of 10 o'clock for some time.

Just three blocks away Warren's alarm sounded in an almost empty house. He groaned, slammed it off and rolled off the bed. The house was dark and quiet, pretty much as it had been for the past week. It was unusual but not unheard of for his mom to be away this long without word. Surprisingly, as time went on he got less worried about the problems caused by his parents. He was, after all, the victim in all of this. He shrugged on his black jacket and made his way downstairs. The bus would be arriving in twenty minutes.

'Now have you got everything?' her mother worried, 'Money, cell, schedule -,'

'Yes Mom, I've got all that and more. I have done this before you know!' Crystal joked.

'I know Crystal, don't be glib,' her mother snapped. 'The circumstances have changed since last time though if you recall – what with your father and all that.'

'Sky High is probably one of the safest places to be right now you know! I don't know why you didn't take Principal Powers up on her offer, I doubt anyone would say anything.'

Crystal, we have been over and over this. I am fine at home. I do _not_ need your teachers baby-sitting me!' her mother answered tersely, her face colouring. 'Anyway, your bus comes in ten minutes – you need to get going!'

Warren sloped out of the house remembering to lock the front door and down the road to his bus stop. To tell the truth he was pretty nervous about starting at Sky High – everyone in his class would be much more advanced than he was. But he shrugged it off. He couldn't show weakness. If he did, no doubt he'd be pitied for having an evil father.

'Warren Peace? You'll be riding with the freshmen today – just to speed everything along. Tomorrow you can get the bus with your classmates.'

Ron, the bus driver, seemed overly perky for this time of a morning Warren thought sourly as he boarded the bus. His hair hung about his face as he found an empty double and slumped down in it. All around him the whispers started. Inwardly he groaned and tried to block them out.

Crystal's bus touched down at 8.20 with forty minutes to go until homeroom. With her friends she descended from the bus and watched the freshmen stagger dizzily from their first trip on a rocket powered school vehicle.

Warren stared around. _So this is the famous Sky High. Berated by my father, glamorised by my mother. Let's see what it makes of me._

He followed the freshmen according to the letter he'd received a few days earlier. Apparently he was going to something called Power Placement.

'Wow, look at the freshmen,' commented Dara, Crystal's closest friend.

'Yeah, I know, it's weird thinking we were once of them only last year,' came the reply.

'God, do you remember Power Placement?' laughed Dara.

'Yeah, you were trembling so hard you could barely crush that car!'

'Your aim was pretty dodgy too as I remember!'

'But the damage I did was obviously impressive enough. Oooh, shall we see if the Coach will let us watch for a bit? I want to see what this year is like!'

The two girls made their way towards the gym, Dara's dark hair contrasting with the blonde of Crystal's. To look at them, you'd never know they were two of the most powerful girls in their year, especially Dara whose petite frame hid the fact that she could crush almost everything.

They slipped in through the large double doors at the back of the gym just as Coach Boomer had finished his opening speech.

'Girls! What are you two doing in here?' the Coach enquired loudly.

Warren turned around to look at the two girls just entering the gym. He wanted to get Power Placement over and done with. It wasn't looking as fun as he'd thought.

'We were hoping we could watch Coach,' she flashed him a pleading smile, 'just for a little bit?'

'Fine but before you sit down, come and show these guys what they should be able to do in a year's time. Dara, you first.'

Dara got up onto the podium and waited for the car to drop. I crashed down next to her and she simply grabbed hold of the bonnet and squeezed. The resulting damage got her a round of applause.

'Crystal, now you.'

Warren looked up; it couldn't be the same one, could it? But a second glance told him otherwise; the blonde hair was definitely the same.

Crystal smiled, brought her hands together and from them came a stream of extraordinarily bright light, which also emitted great heat. She believed hot light was always better than just regular light.

The car twisted and buckled under the beam of intensely hot light. Warren stared, open mouthed at the scrap of metal before him. His boss could do that? He made a mental note to never be late for work.

'Very nice girls. I'll see you after lunch for Advanced Level Save the Citizen. It's a lot more fun than last year's version. You'd better get to homeroom now.'

Crystal and Dara waved to the freshmen that looked at them with some degree of awe as they left the gym. Crystal hadn't seen Warren in the crowd.

The two made their way from homeroom to their first class with Medulla, 'Advanced Science', and settled themselves at the back of the class waiting for the follicly challenged genius to arrive.

'I bet you've got some questions for the new kid then.' Charelle, class gossip and class bitch leaned over to Crystal's workbench.

'New kid, where? And what questions?' she asked, confused.

'Haven't you heard? Baron Battle's son is arriving today. I heard he's coming in a specially prepared helicopter with like ten staff to watch him! Oh my God, I can't believe you didn't know!' she squealed excitedly.

'Baron Battle's kid, here? Shouldn't it be illegal for villains' kids to come here or something?' Dara interjected.

'Well, apparently it isn't. So, are you going to do anything about it?'

'I'll certainly –,' Crystal started.

'Girls, I hate to break up this little gossip in the corner but you need to pay attention if you're going to learn how to recalibrate this phase cannon.'

Warren was sat next to a very nervous kid who was trembling so hard that Warren was just waiting for him to fall off. It had been almost an hour since Crystal and her friend had left. He still hadn't got over the fact that she was here too! _Private school my ass! _He was going to have words with her.

'Jaime Nuttall,' the Coach called, 'Come on sonny, we don't have all day.'

The boy sitting next to Warren finally made it to the stage.

'Off you go then,' the Coach sighed resignedly. The boy didn't look like he'd amount to much, trembling like a leaf.

Suddenly there was a rumbling and the whole building shook. Crystal and Dara, on their way to the History of Superheroes, looked around as the lockers on either side flew open, spilling their contents everywhere.

'That is one strong freshman,' Dara remarked as she dodged a falling light fixture.

'So I see. God I hope he learns to control his powers fast though!' Crystal joked as she side-stepped Mr. Boy hurtling down the corridor.

Back in the gym Warren stood on the platform, impressed by the kid but strangely nervous about leaving himself open to the scrutiny of a bunch of freshmen. He'd had no problems displaying his powers before. A smoking pile of science lab at his previous school paid testament to that.

'CAR!' demanded the Coach.

As it fell from the ceiling, Warren powered up and appreciated the small awed gasps as he threw a series of fireballs in quick succession. The car exploded, sending small shards of metal flying everywhere.

'Alright then,' the Coach said, making a note on his clipboard. 'HERO! You can join your classmates in here after lunch. Right now you need to get your schedule. NEXT!'

After a tedious hour spent learning about the heroes of the early twentieth century, Crystal and her friends finally made it into lunch where an interesting sight met their eyes.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I know, I know! I'm sorry it's been so long but school was really busy as we finished for the Christmas holidays. But now I am on holiday hopefully I'll be writing more! Enjoy the chapter!

'Lash! What are you doing?' exclaimed Crystal. 'And Dirk! You helped too? Whoever you've got up there, put them down!'

Crystal couldn't quite believe her eyes. Dirk, Crystal's ex and a senior, who could create and control metal, had encased some poor student's upper body, probably that of a freshman and Lash was just fixing the person to the ceiling by their belt.

'Crystal! I thought you'd be pleased!' cried Dirk. 'Don't you know who this is?'

'Well I can't exactly see their face can I?' retorted Crystal. 'And whoever it is, I'm sure they don't deserve being humiliated in front of the whole school like this!'

'Just wait until you find put who it is,' promised Dirk. 'I'm sure you'll feel much different when you see their face. Spin him round Lash.'

Lash stretched up to the ceiling and turned the person around. Before she's even seen his face full on, Crystal realised who it was. Her jaw went slack.

'I give you Warren Peace, son of Baron Battle. I bet you'd like to ask him how his dad persuaded your dad to turn to the dark side. Not so tough is he?' he said, gesturing to the figure suspended from the ceiling. 'I expected him to put up more of a fight really.'

'Put him down! What the hell do you think you're doing? Where do you get off being prejudiced about people's parentage anyway Dirk?' she shouted, her eyes glowing. She may not like Warren very much right now, or even feel much solidarity for him but no one deserved to be treated like that and she doubted anyone else would stick up for him. 'Your parents dumped you in a vat of toxic waste and then on Coach Boomer's doorstep!' she resumed.

Crystal's outburst shocked everyone, including Warren. He hadn't exactly expected her to come to his rescue, especially after their last conversation.

'I can't believe you just told everyone that!' yelled Dirk, his face flushing.

'Well I doubt that you're more embarrassed than Warren,' she snapped. 'Did it ever occur to you that he might not have wanted everyone to know who his dad is? And to be strung up like a pinãta? I didn't think you could sink so low,' she said, her voice extremely bitter and quiet. 'Now let him down or, I promise, you _will_ regret it.'

Slowly and quietly, Lash stretched up and brought Warren back down to the ground.

'I won't set him free Crystal, you can't make me.' Dirk said defiantly, attempting to reclaim some dignity.

'You don't need to. It would appear that Warren could free himself.'

The metal casing around Warren's arms and body was melting rapidly and soon two flaming arms appeared. He threw two fireballs in quick succession; one at Lash and the other at Dirk. But Lash dodged it and Dirk reflected it off a shield he created.

'Warren, please! Stop!' exclaimed Crystal, not having foreseen the consequences an angry Warren could cause. He turned to look at her, an almost animal look in his eyes before he resumed attacking his captors. Lash and Dirk were hidden behind a table, praying Warren wouldn't find them. They hadn't exactly realised what they had unleashed upon themselves and now they were sincerely regretting it. Slowly and silently Warren made his way over to them until he was standing over them, both arms alight, just staring at the two tormentors.

_Ok, this has gone far enough!_ Crystal thought. 'Warren!' she yelled. He turned to see who had shouted at him but as he did, a ball of light exploded at his feet causing him to trip and fall over the table on top of Lash and Dirk. The three of them were about to start a severe cafeteria scuffle when suddenly they were frozen; Lash with his arms around Warren who was attempting to strangle Dirk.

The students stared at Crystal and then at the frozen guys. A ripple of hushed whispers went around the room. 'Did she do that?' 'I don't think so.' 'Who did?'

'Ah, not bad for a first try Mr. Medulla.'

'Not bad! It worked perfectly thank you, just like I programmed it to.'

Principal Powers and Mr. Medulla stood in the doorway of the cafeteria and in his hands rested a large, space age looking weapon – apparently a new creation. Principal Powers raised her hand and the room fell silent.

'This is Mr. Medulla's latest invention – a freeze ray that doesn't actually involve reducing the recipient's body temperature. Now then, Crystal, if you would follow me please – just…mind your head.' She added as she floated the bodies of the Warren, Lash and Dirk over the students and out of the door behind her.

'Now,' she said as they walked down the hallway, 'I know you're having a tough time at the moment, what with your father and all but I assure you that is no excuse for attacking other students Crystal.'

'But – '

'No buts Crystal. I saw what happened. You will be spending the rest of the afternoon in detention with your friends here.'

They reached the white room that no student liked entering, generally because if left them with a pretty severe headache if nothing else. Principal Powers opened the door and glumly Crystal walked in accompanied by the three floating bodies.

'Mr. Medulla if you would,' she said gesturing at the students who were floating about a foot off the ground.

He fired the ray and all of a sudden they fell to the floor with a crash.

'I'll be back at the end of the day for you and I don't expect I need to remind you that your powers are useless here. You'll have to work things out the old-fashioned way. _Talking_ not fighting. I'll see you later.' With that she closed the door and disappeared down the corridor.

'What the hell!' exploded Warren.

'Yeah, how'd we end up here?' demanded Lash.

'Medulla has a new toy,' Crystal replied wearily. 'You all got frozen mid fight and brought here. We're all in detention for the afternoon for fighting. Even though _technically_ I wasn't fighting, here I am. So if you're going to beat each other up please do it over there,' she gestured to the far side of the room. 'I've got a report due in on Monday and I might as well do it now.'

Suddenly all the fight seemed to be drained out of the guys as they slumped to the floor though still a fair distance from each other. An awkward silence fell over the room as Crystal started on her report and the guys had nothing to do. It continued in this manner for possibly up to an hour before Principal Powers came back into the room.

'Dirk, your mother has just arrived to pick you up. It would appear that your dentist appointment has saved you from another hour of detention. However, you will be expected to make up the time after school tomorrow,' the Principal stated from the doorway.

Dirk struggled up from the floor. He'd been sitting in the same position for all that time and his leg had gone to sleep. He limped over to the doorway and escaped the white prison.

Crystal, meanwhile, had finished her report and was now idly staring while Warren and Lash shot daggers at each other from opposite sides of the room. She was sure that if either of them had that capability, the room would now be red as opposed to white.

She closed her eyes and sighed. She could feel the dreaded headache coming on and was determined to stop it at all costs. She practised the yoga breathing her mother had taught her to deal with stressful situations; in through the nose, out through the mouth. She had just reached a state of relaxation when she felt someone slump next to her. Crystal opened her eyes in annoyance to find Lash on her left shoulder.

'What?' she asked.

'Nothing, just thought you could use some company.'

'Well, I don't so you can just go back over there,' she gestured, closing her eyes again.

'Why did you and Dirk break up?'

'What? Why do you care? That was at the end of last year! For your information, he became a right jackass because he was going to be a senior. He started showing off and didn't pay any attention to our relationship. Satisfied?' she snapped.

'So are you looking for anyone else right now?' he asked, his arm sliding round the back of her neck.

'Lash! Jesus, what the hell are you doing? I am not looking for anyone else and even if I were it would definitely not be you! Get off!' she cried, slapping his hand away.

Warren, from the other side of the room woke up to Crystal's cries. Weirdly he'd fallen asleep – something he was not expecting to do, least of all in detention.

'Hey! What do you think you're doing?' he demanded roughly, getting to his feet and hauling Lash off Crystal. 'I think she made her intentions pretty clear.'

'What would you know? You were asleep, you were probably dreaming!' he retorted.

'I heard enough. She didn't want you doing whatever it was you were doing so back off!'

Warren grew a little angrier; this guy was obviously an idiot who just couldn't take a hint.

'Warren, it's fine really. I handled it. I think Lash knows where he stands, don't you?' she added pointedly, glaring at him.

'Yeah, no, I understand. You're obviously involved with this villain-hero crossbreed,' he spat contemptuously.

'What right do you have to talk about my parents?' Warren yelled slamming Lash up against the wall, his arm pressed across his throat. 'Don't you dare slander them you jumped up piece of elastic!'

'Warren, please, let him down!' Crystal cried as she saw Lash's feet dangle a couple of inches above the ground and his face started turning blue.

'Warren, come on, he isn't worth it!' she said tugging on his arm. Warren stared into Lash's eyes for a few seconds longer before dropping him to the floor with a thud. He threw Crystal's arm off his and stalked over to the other side of the room and began pacing. Lash stared at his attacker, gasping for breath. This guy was a nutcase, seriously. _Why on earth did they let him in here?_ he wondered.

Just then, Principal Powers arrived to let them all out.

'What's been going on in here?' she asked, eyeing Lash's gasping body suspiciously.

Lash glanced at Warren who glared at him with such intensity that it made his blood run cold.

'Nothing, nothing's happened. Can we go now?' he garbled trying to make it out of the door.

'Yes, but I'd just like a word with you two,' she said pointing at Crystal and Warren. She waited until Lash had left before closing the door behind him. 'Now I know you two may have some issues with each other, what with your fathers and all, but I hope I can rely on you to leave them outside of school. If you ever want to talk about it, I'm always here.'

'Yes, Principal Powers,' Crystal replied. 'Actually, Warren and I know each other from work, before…what happened.'

'Well that's good then,' she replied, clearly not expecting this meeting to have gone so well. 'If you hurry, you'll just make the last bus. Here is your bag Warren, I believe you left it in the cafeteria,' she said with a smile.

The two of them hurried out of the building and just made it onto the last bus with the only seats left being two next to each other. They dropped down into them just as the seatbelts crossed over, locking them in place. Throughout the bus ride home both of them sat in silence. Crystal couldn't believe what Warren had just done and Warren was still fuming and didn't trust himself to speak.

The bus pulled up to a stop and Crystal stood up. 'Excuse me,' she said stiffly as she went to move past into the aisle.

'Don't bother,' he grunted as he got up as well and walked off the bus.

_Great_, Crystal thought, _how far am I going to have to walk with Captain Sunshine here?_

Luckily for Crystal, Warren turned off her path quite soon after they left the bus but she stopped when she heard him call her name.

'What?' she said, turning to face him but was met with silence. 'What?' she repeated.

'Umm…are you working tonight?' he asked finally.

'What day is it? Thursday. No, I'm not,' she said, somewhat relieved.

'Alright,' he said, shrugging his shoulders, 'see you,' and he ambled off down the road.

_Idiot! Idiot!_ he thought to himself as he walked homewards. _You could have just apologised there and then but nooo, you had to stand there like a fish with your mouth hanging open. You're not even working tonight! Why does it matter if she is?_

He berated himself all the way home but stopped suddenly when he reached home and found the door open…

A/N: Sorry about the really awful cliff-hanger but I was running out of things to say! And if it sounds a little weird I think so too, not sure why it's odd though! R&R!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I know, I know! I am the worst author ever! Mainly because I got myself stuck in a hole with this whole open door thing and I couldn't think of what to put on the other side! Hopefully this is ok! R&R as always!

Warren approached the open door with caution and quietly. Whoever was on the other side of this door, he wanted to be ready for them. He dropped his bag on the front porch, but quietly, and gradually pushed the door open. It swung open silently and the sunlight glinted on the polished wooden floor that was his entrance foyer.

In fact, Warren thought, it glinted a little too brightly. He sat on his heels and made to touch it but was interrupted.

'Warren! Warren don't you dare touch that!' hissed someone from somewhere.

He looked around suspiciously. Obviously this person wanted to help him but he'd have liked to be able to see them.

'Who are you? Where are you?' he asked.

'Shhhh! Do you want them to hear us? And don't you recognise your own mother? I'm up here,' whispered Warren's mom.

Warren looked upwards and saw his mother suspended from the ceiling by some sort of rope gadget.

'What are you doing up there? And since when are you home? I haven't seen you in about a week!' Warren said in hushed tones as he stood up and leant on the doorframe. His legs were getting pins and needles and he didn't want them to fall asleep and meant he fell on the floor. 'And why are we whispering again?'

'I…I don't know. It seemed like a good idea at the time,' she whispered.

'Mom, you're still doing it,' Warren said, back in a normal tone.

'Oh, yeah. So anyway, I know I've been away a lot but I guess you saw what happened with your father. I couldn't come back even though I desperately wanted to. I knew you'd be starting school again soon so the staff would look after you. So finally I could get back here, in I walked and boom! I was straight up here and have been for,' she checked her watch, 'at least three hours. Luckily this thing isn't too uncomfortable. Anyway, the important thing is that you don't touch this ice stuff. It triggered whatever happened to me but I'm guessing this was meant for you. Your father and Benjamin used to play tricks like this all the time.'

'Benjamin? Who is Benjamin? And what does he have to do with dad?' asked Warren, screwing up his eyebrows in confusion.

'Benjamin is Ice T, the one who set your father free. They were best friends at Sky High but then your dad changed and so they drifted apart. I'm guessing Ice T needs something because I'm sure he wouldn't want anything to do with your dad otherwise.'

'Yes, because I hear dad _is_ into helping people now,' Warren commented dryly from the doorway.

'Oh please Warren don't be like that. Anyway, you and I both know it'll be for something else. Ice T is not going to get something for nothing. Not from your father.'

'Warren! Warren are you ok?' called a voice from across the street.

'Uh, yeah Mr. Pudjanowski, I'm fine, just…thinking about something.' It was lame, he knew that but that was all he could come up with for why he was standing on his own doorstep.

'If you need any help, just call!' Mr. Pudjanowski toddled back into his own house, shaking his head at the strangeness of that boy. And the red highlights? Did boys really do that now? It wasn't like that in my day, he thought.

'So how, do you propose, do I get in? I can't stand here all night?' he asked.

'Well, I think it's just the foyer that's affected. Element of surprise and all that. Do you think you can get in at the back?'

'Please Mom, I think we both know I have no problem getting into houses,' he smiled, a rarity seeing as they were discussing his past record.

'Don't worry about the window honey!' she called as he made his way round to the back of the house.

'I won't!' he called back.

Crystal hummed a tune to herself as she wandered home. She'd managed to survive the first day of sophomore year – a good start she decided even though there was the whole detention thing. And it had been nice of Warren to come to her rescue, though it had been a little more violent than she'd have liked.

She got to the front door and went to open when it swung open. She smiled; her mom must have opened it for her. She pushed the door open and walked into the hallway, promptly finding herself upside-down looking at the floor which now looked pretty shiny.

'Mom!' she called. 'Hey, Mom?' Crystal was worried. Where was her mother? She had barely left the house since her father helped Baron Battle to escape. Crystal hoped she hadn't chosen today to have her first day out.

'Crystal?' came a faint cry from somewhere in the house.

'Mom! Where are you? I'm stuck in the hall. I can't get down from the ceiling. There's some sort of trapeze thing.'

'I know. I saw them do it. They hit me. Crystal…' her voice quivered. 'I think I'm bleeding. Help me, Crystal, please, help me.'

Crystal struggled with the elasticated ties that suspended her just below the ceiling, so worried for her mother's safety. What was wrong? What had happened to her? And how was she going to get down so she could help her mother? Crystal figured if she cut the ropes with light beams and hit the floor she'd just end up here again. She needed to get rid of the ice…

Warren's phone rang just after his mom had hung up on the window repairman. Unfortunately, the window replacement would cost $300 which, as it turned out, needn't have happened seeing as he could actually melt the ice covering the floor. However, it meant he hadn't had to use his powers in public so that was a good thing.

'Hello?' he said, picking up the phone and wandering into the den.

'Warren? It's Crystal.'

'Crystal? How did you get my number?'

'I kinda took it off your application form, just in case, you know. But anyway, that's not important right now.'

'Are you ok? You sound kinda weird.' At that precise moment Crystal was wriggling around in the bungee ropes, trying to extricate a leg that had got trapped somehow.

'Not really. I'm stuck. In bungee ropes at my house and there's this weird ice thing on the floor. And I really need to get to my mom, I think she's hurt and she's disabled and can't help herself. So I really need to get down but if I cut the ropes I'll just bounce back up and knowing my luck there'll be a second set of ropes.'

'So you've had a visit too then,' Warren muttered to himself.

'What?'

'We got it too, my mom thinks it was my dad and Ice T. You know, they guy who helped him escape.'

'Yeah, I know him,' Crystal said through gritted teeth. Her dad, why hadn't she thought of that before?

'Anyway, they iced my foyer as well and my mom was stuck on the ceiling for a few hours. But luckily, it does melt so I'll be over in a few minutes.'

She gave him her address and hung there waiting for Warren to arrive.

It was, just as he'd said, a few minutes later that he arrived but he wasn't alone. A woman, probably his mother, who was extremely elegant and seemed to ooze peace and tranquillity, accompanied him. Her chestnut hair was perfectly coiled on top of her head and she was dressed in a cream suit.

'Hi, I'm Mrs. Peace. When Warren said your mother might be hurt I thought I'd better come too. I'm good at calming people down. Shall I see if I can find her?'

Crystal nodded gratefully as Mrs. Peace walked along the path her son cleared for her.

'Hey,' he said.

'Hey,' she replied and watched him clear away the rest of the ice. When he'd cleared an area big enough for her to get down into he stopped.

'So, how are you going to get down?'

'Well, if I cut the ropes, do you think you can catch me? Are you any good at that sort of stuff?'

'Well I don't save damsels in distress that often but I'm sure I can catch you.'

'Right,' she said as she flipped over so she was lying in a sort of cradle of bungee ropes. 'I'm going to cut these and then you're going to catch me. If you drop me, you are so fired.'

'Ok,' he said in all seriousness.

Crystal sliced the ropes with two beams of light from her hands and then she was in Warren's arms. He held her for just a second before setting her down.

'Crystal!' called Mrs. Peace. 'I think you ought to be here!'

She ran down the hallway slipping slightly on the water left after the ice had melted and practically fell into her kitchen. The sight that met her eyes left her breathless. Her mother was lying on the floor with blood running from her head, surrounding her. It looked like she'd been left this way for some time. Mrs. Peace was sat next to her, holding her hand.

'Crystal, is that you?' her voice was so faint Crystal could barely hear it.

With tears streaming down her face she ran over to her mom, cradling her head in her lap.

'Someone call 911,' she whispered.

'I already did, they should be here any minute. Warren would you go and look out for them please?' replied Mrs. Peace. 'They'll be here soon, don't worry.'

'My mother is lying in a pool of her own blood, how can I not worry! It's ok Mom, just try not to move, the paramedics will be here soon and they can fix you up. I'll call Don as soon as I can. He'll need to know what happened.'

'Don?' questioned Mrs. Peace.

'You probably know him as Pulsar. He and my mom worked in the field together before she met my dad and all that. He runs the NVTS, the National Villain Tracking Service. But I expect you already knew that,' she said softly.

'Yes, I've met Pulsar. He helped with Warren's father and he's probably doing something about it now.'

Warren came back into the room accompanied by two paramedics, one male and one female.

'Ok, so what's your name?' asked the female one.

'Crystal, and this is my mom Jane,' she replied through sniffs.

'Ok, Crystal I'm Sue and this is Jake. We're going to have to ask you to move away from your mom for the moment so we can take a look at her. Is there anything about her we need to know? Any medications, anything like that?'

'She's disabled, paralysed from the waist down. She's on pain meds but only when she needs them, which isn't often. She's going to be alright isn't she?' Crystal stood next to her mother, her lap, part of her shirt and her hands were covered in her mother's blood and she was trembling slightly.

'We'll know more when we get to the hospital. She's lost a lot of blood but we'll do what we can.'

Jake fetched the gurney so they could take Crystal's mother to the hospital and they loaded her onto the ambulance.

'Do you want anyone to come with you?' asked Sue.

'Umm…' Crystal thought. She really wanted to be alone with her mother right now and no offence to Warren and his mother; she didn't really know them all that well.

'It's ok Crystal, we don't need to come. We could stop by with some clothes for you later if you want. You can't stay in those much longer,' said Mrs. Peace sensing Crystal's unease.

'Thanks, that would be nice of you,' she smiled gratefully as the ambulance doors banged shut and they drove off.

Mrs. Peace and Warren made their way back into Crystal's house.

'Warren, would you go round the house just to check there's no other signs of disturbance please?' Mrs. Peace asked her son. 'I'll get some clothes for Crystal and her mother.'

Warren nodded and wandered around the house. Everything seemed to be fine except for the giant pool of blood in the kitchen. He thought about cleaning it up but then reasoned that the NVTS would probably want to have a look at it first. He waited in Crystal's front room until his mom came back downstairs but while he did so, a picture caught his eye. Sitting on a sidetable, among a bunch of other photographs, was one of Crystal, her mother and, incredibly, Ice T all standing together in front of some statue. Crystal's dad was Ice T, the guy who had helped his dad break out of jail? No way, this was too weird.

'Mom! Are you done yet? There's something you need to see!'

Mrs. Peace stared at the photograph.

'Well that explains why they targeted this house as well then, doesn't it?' she said, not quite believing it.

'Yeah, so what are we going to do about it?'

'What can we do? Pulsar will know what to do. Poor Crystal, imagine having to cope with this all on her own. From the looks of it upstairs her dad hasn't been around for a while. He might have turned villainous some time ago and they wouldn't have known'

She sighed. 'Come on Warren, we better get these things to the hospital. I can't imagine they'd still be in the ER now.'

Mrs. Peace and Warren reached the small, private waiting room outside the theatre they'd been directed to and found Crystal sitting in an ugly orange chair, her clothes still covered in her mother's blood. She was staring silently at the floor, not moving. They approached quietly.

'Crystal? Are you ok?' Mrs. Peace asked quietly.

Crystal shook her head. 'The doctors thought they'd stabilised her but then she crashed and they had to take her back into the theatre. They think there's more damage than they initially found so they have to cut her open again.'

She dissolved into sobs and Mrs. Peace put an arm around her. Warren hung back, unsure of how to deal with this outburst of raw emotion. He sat on a chair opposite the two women and wondered how their fathers could have done this to a defenceless woman, let alone the mother of one of their children.

When Crystal's tears seemed to have subsided a little Mrs. Peace let her go and went to find some drinks and possibly someone who could tell them what was going on. Warren moved over and sat next to Crystal. She looked so fragile and exhausted. Her face was blotchy with crying and her hair hung limp and lifeless around her face.

'We brought you some clothes,' he offered as a way to break the silence, 'but I don't expect you're too bothered by that right now.'

'No, that's kind of you. I'd go change but I don't want to leave in case someone comes.'

'The washroom's just down the hall and if anyone comes I could always fetch you right away. It's not good for you to stay in these clothes, it's not healthy.'

She nodded grudgingly, took the bag he offered her and wandered down the hall. Mrs. Peace came back with drinks just after Crystal left.

'Where was she going?' she asked.

'To get changed, I persuaded her sitting in her mother's blood wasn't the best idea.'

'That's good. I always knew you were a sensitive boy Warren.'

'Don't get too used to it Mom. I couldn't be my usual self in this situation really could I?'

'No, I suppose not, but still, it's good to know you _can_ be like this.'

Crystal returned just then in fresh clothes and with her hair tied back. She looked slightly better but her face looked gaunt as though this day had aged her dramatically. She slumped back down in the chair next to Warren.

'Thank you for doing this for me, it's really nice of you,' she said in an exhausted tone.

'Don't worry dear, it's no bother. Also, while I was gone I called Pulsar to let him know what was going on. Just so you didn't have to relay it all again. He said he'd send some people round to the house and offered to send someone here. I told him we were looking after you so he needn't bother. Was that alright?'

'Yes, thank you. I appreciate it.' She yawned and not surprisingly. It was almost midnight. She rested her head on Warren's shoulder and closed her eyes for a minute before she shivered and opened them again.

'It's so cold in here,' she complained. 'You'd think with all the sick people this place would be warmer.'

'I'll see if I can find some blankets,' said Mrs. Peace leaving Warren and Crystal in the waiting room. She leant her head on his shoulder again, the emotion of the day finally catching up with her. Carefully Warren picked up his leather jacket off the floor and draped it around Crystal as best he could without disturbing her. He held onto one of her hands and gently rested his head on her own before succumbing to sleep.

All in all, it had been a pretty exhausting day.

A/N: Please review! The next chapter will be up really soon, I hope! crosses fingers


	7. Chapter 7

'Miss Lucere?' a strange voice asked. 'Miss Lucere, are you awake?'

Crystal was instantly awake and sat bolt upright. She looked at her watch and the dial read 3am.

'What is it?' she asked in a hurried manner. Now Warren and his mother were awake also and looking concernedly at Crystal.

The doctor paused. 'I'm so sorry Crystal. Your mother didn't make it,' he said gravely.

She sat in the chair, shocked. 'What…how…why is she dead?' she finally stuttered out.

'Although the wound at first seemed superficial, on further investigation it appeared there was a large shard of glass embedded in your mother's brain. It caused the brain to bleed out and consequently… I'm so sorry Crystal.' After a moment he added, 'You can see her if you'd like.'

She nodded mutely but when Warren stood up to go with her she motioned him back.

'No,' she said quietly. 'This is something I need to do alone.'

He sat back down and watched a sad and lonely girl walk slowly with a doctor down the hallway to say goodbye to her mother.

She tentatively pushed open the double doors and walked over to the bed on which her mother lay.

'Why are there so many tubes still attached?' she asked in voice barely audible.

'Your mother's death is suspicious. They need to be left in for a coroner to see. I'll leave you alone now.'

Crystal nodded wordlessly and pulled up a stool to the side of her mother's bed. She looked so peaceful lying there, her eyes closed and her face clean of the blood that had covered Crystal's lap. She held her mother's hand and looked down on the sleeping face as tears welled up in her eyes and spilled over onto her cheeks.

'Mom, mommy come back. Wake up mommy I need you, you can't leave me like this, no! It isn't fair; you can't die on me now. Why have you gone away? I can't survive without you. Who's going to look after me? Come back, you can't go, you just can't.'

She collapsed under the sobs racking her whole body. She held her mother's hand and rested her head on her chest as her own chest heaved up and down with the strain. She couldn't breathe, she felt as though she were dying. Wave after wave of grief washed over her until she wore herself out and simply lay there sobbing.

After some time, Warren, who had been watching from the door, came in and gently led her away. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and, with his mother in tow, slowly took her out of the hospital to which she would never be able to return. He placed her in the back seat of his mom's car and sat next to her, cradling her gently in his arms while his mom drove them back to his house.

Once there he led her up to their guest bedroom where she lay on the bed, limp and overwrought. He brought her all the tissues in the house and silently closed the door on a girl he barely knew but felt as though the bond they'd formed this night would never be broken.

He finally got to his own bed and crawled under the covers. It was 5am he noted and guessed neither of them would be attending school the next day.

He finally woke up again around lunchtime and after a shower and a change of clothes wandered downstairs to find his mom sitting at the breakfast bar reading the papers. From the looks of it, she hadn't been up for very long either.

'Hey,' he said as he wandered over to the fridge.

'Hi,' she replied back sipping on black coffee. 'Did you sleep well?'

'Not bad. How's Crystal? Have you heard from her?'

'Nothing. I was thinking about maybe taking her something to eat in a bit.'

'I'll go if you want. I can make eggs,' he offered.

She smiled at him. 'You're a good boy Warren Peace and don't let anyone ever tell you you're not. You've got such a big heart, looking after this girl. And yes, I think eggs would be good. Make me some too?'

'Sure,' he smiled back and in no time he was carrying a tray of scrambled eggs on toast up to Crystal's room.

'Crystal?' he said softly outside the door. When he heard no reply he set the eggs down outside the door and crept in.

She was sat in the armchair that overlooked the garden surrounded by tissues. He went round to her and she simply stared past him.

'Crystal?'

Her eyes seemed to regain some focus as they slid over to him.

'I brought you something to eat. Do you want it?'

She shook her head, wincing slightly at the pain that caused.

'Would you like some water then?'

She nodded and gingerly accepted the glass he held out to her. She drank it down quickly; obviously dehydrated from all the tears she'd shed throughout the night. He refilled the glass and left the bottle on the windowsill.

'I'll come back up later to see if you want anything then.'

She nodded again and went back to staring out of the window clutching the glass in one hand and a tissue in the other.

When he came back downstairs with the tray full of food his mother smiled sympathetically at him.

'She didn't want it then? Don't worry. She'll eat eventually. We just have to be there for her.'

'She looked so terrible. Her face was so pale and her eyes were glazed over. She looked like a robot. Nothing like she was at work.'

'That's what grief does to you Warren. When your father –.' She stopped. She had never spoken about Baron Battle since he got put in jail when Warren was only four. But perhaps now was the right time to talk about it.

'When he was sent away you had to go and stay with your aunt because I couldn't cope. I was exactly like Crystal is now. It was as though he'd died because to me he had. He'd become a totally different person. He was no longer the man I had fallen in love with.'

Warren sat, silently, at his mother's side as she told him the repercussions of his father's defection to villainhood.

Upstairs, Crystal could hear their voices but not loud enough to discern words. She was sat in the armchair from which she hadn't moved since about dawn – whenever that had been.

She hadn't slept since she'd crashed out on Warren's shoulder before… She shuddered remembering it and a single tear rolled down her cheek. She didn't think she could cry any more. It was as though the initial shock had begun to wear off and now she had reached some stage of tranquillity before the difficult part of getting back together would begin. But she couldn't think about that right now. Of course, the grief still struck her and rolled over her in waves making her heart ache dreadfully – sometimes so much so she wasn't sure if she would survive – but she found comfort in knowing that there were people who were looking after her – Warren, his mother and the people at the NVTS.

She leant her head against the side of the chair and pulled the blanket around herself tightly. Slowly she closed her eyes and slipped into unconsciousness.

She woke up in her own bed and heard her mother calling her down to breakfast. She padded downstairs and sat at the breakfast bar over chocolate croissants and orange juice. She talked with her mother about school, work and where they'd go on holiday that year. Suddenly she realised the colour was fading from her mother's face and the world around her turned grey and she was in the operating theatre once more. Her mother lay on the bed they'd placed her on.

_No, not again_, Crystal pleaded silently.

She reached out to her mother but gradually she was slipping away and no matter how quickly she ran her mother's image disappeared even faster.

'Mom! Mom! Mommy, come back! Don't leave me again!'

'Crystal! Crystal, wake up!'

She awoke with a start, grasping for her mother until she realised where she was and what had happened. The aching in her heart intensified. She had been so sure her mother had been alive, just there, palpable.

But when she realised the truth her face crumpled and once more the tears flowed freely from her red-rimmed eyes. She wasn't aware there was even another person in the room until she felt another tissue being pressed into her hand.

'Crystal? Are you alright?' asked Warren concernedly. She'd been thrashing around and calling out for her mother. He'd heard her downstairs.

'I dreamt…that my mom was still alive. We were having breakfast at home but then we were back at the hospital and she just…disappeared, floating away from me,' she managed to say between sobs.

She scrubbed at her eyes with the tissue she'd been handed.

'Um, there's something I have to tell you that I know you won't want to hear, but it's something that has to be done. The cops are here and they want to talk to you about what happened. They know about the whole superhero thing and they already spoke to my mom and me. They just need to talk to you now. Do you think you can manage it?'

His eyes were full of worry for this fragile girl sat in front of him. It was so much to have to go through. And then to talk to strangers about it? He searched her face for an answer.

She nodded, 'I'll be down in a minute.'

Warren rejoined his mom and the cops in his sitting room.

'She says she'll be down in a minute.'

Just then, Crystal shuffled into the room. Her hair was pulled back from her head and her face was so pale. She held the blanket around her with one hand and in the other carried several tissues.

'Mis Lucere?' asked one of the officers. 'I'm Inspector Davidson and this is my partner Detective Morris. We are so sorry for your loss but we need to take your statement so we can start the investigation. We have been informed of your… situation by the NVTS so please don't feel as though you have to hide anything. Are you ok to begin?' he asked.

She nodded. She just wanted to get this over with as soon as possible.

'We're going to have to ask you to step outside though Warren. Miss Lucere needs an adult present and your mother agreed to be that adult. She has also offered her services as your lawyer Crystal, unless you want to find one yourself.'

'No, that's fine thank you,' she replied.

So Warren went and sat in his kitchen until the interview was over. Mrs. Peace came into the kitchen afterwards and told Warren she was going to pick some things up for Crystal and would he look after her until she got back. She was sitting in the den.

Warren wandered in and sat next to Crystal on the squashy sofa facing the television and the garden.

'How did it go?' he asked.

'They just asked about what happened from beginning to end. From when I stepped inside the house until now. I had to talk about it again and again but your mom was really nice and stopped them when they started to make me upset. I really can't say how much this means to me you know,' she said, looking up at him. 'I know we don't exactly know each other, well not at all, but I feel like I've known you forever. Does that sound weird?'

'No. No, I know exactly what you mean,' he said softly. 'What about your friends? Won't they be worried about you?'

'I can't face talking to them right now. I hope they're not too worried. Principal Powers might have said something to them. But they don't know I'm here, do they?'

'I don't think so,' he replied.

Suddenly her stomach growled.

'Are you finally hungry?' he asked.

'I guess so. It's been ages since I last ate.'

'Come to the kitchen and I'll fix you whatever you want. I'm not a bad chef you know.'

She smiled and thought about what she'd like to eat before finally deciding on fries and sausages. Warren fixed enough for the two of them and they sat in the den, quietly eating until his mom came home with some new clothes for Crystal.

When she saw the two of them sitting together she smiled. Warren had never really had any friends before and she was beginning to doubt he was able to do so. But this whole situation had shown her that her son really was good at heart. She left them to their meal and watching old cartoons as the sky turned to dusk and then night.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Sorry for the delay in posting the new chapter but I figured you guys could do with a break from the emotional trauma but the writing bug has come back with a vengeance and I hope you like the stuff it's putting down for you all! Remember to review please, they really make me want to keep doing this!

Later that night Principal Powers called the Peace household to let Warren know he was expected to attend school the next day but Crystal was to take as much time as she needed before returning. She was sure Warren would keep Crystal caught up on her work if there was any concern in that area.

But when the next day arrived, Warren was reluctant to leave a girl still so vulnerable who clearly needed support and understanding. However, on the insistence of Crystal and his mother, he reluctantly agreed to go and also let the Paper Lantern know that neither of them would be attending work for a while.

He clambered onto the bus, dreading his second day as a sophomore. As it turned out, he was right to be apprehensive. Even though Crystal's mother's death wasn't supposed to be a secret, he hadn't expected people to be so open about it. Nor could he explain how everyone seemed to know she was staying with him.

As soon as he boarded the bus all eyes swivelled towards him and he was bombarded with questions. How was she? Was she ok? Why hadn't she called anyone?

These questions Warren could deal with and understand but then they got more intrusive and just plain rude with some incredibly insensitive people asking why on earth was she staying with him and if he'd actually seen the body?

At this, Warren turned around slowly and looked down the bus at all the faces of his classmates with such a menace in his eyes that they immediately fell silent. After all, they were still aware of his background; it had been the talk of the school for the day he'd missed, and with a father as volatile as his, who knows what he'd do.

'Listen,' he said in a soft, quiet voice. Even the bus driver stopped the bus to hear what Warren had to say.

'How Crystal is, what she's doing or where she's living is none of your damn business. Her mother just got killed for Christ's sake! How the hell do you think she's doing? And as for calling you? Like hell is she going to do that! So lay off the questions, don't even think about calling the house and let the poor girl deal with the issues! Now,' he said, addressing the bus driver, 'why the hell aren't we moving?'

Hurriedly the bus was put in gear and sped towards the school. The bus driver didn't want to anger the son of Baron Battle any more than anyone else did.

Warren managed to get through the whole of homeroom without anyone pestering him but the anger he'd felt on the bus still pumped round his body and he was pretty on edge. But in History the teacher was late to the lesson, which meant it wasn't long before the questions started up again. He tried ignoring them, he tried glowering at the inquisitors but nothing seemed to work and he could feel the anger bubbling back up to the surface as his arms became increasingly heated. Finally, he snapped, sending a huge ball of fire into the bookcase on the far side of the room.

Suddenly everyone was silent and sat staring at Warren, watching for any sudden movements. After a moment Warren was calmer and asked the crowd just one question that, he hoped, would put his mind at rest.

'How the hell do you all know I was there and helped her out?'

No one spoke up until Will volunteered the information.

'The whole superhero community knows Warren. It came to everyone's house in faxes, telephone, even their comm. devices. They said, that is the NVTS said, that Crystal's mother had been killed as a result of the activity of…your dad and Ice T. Everyone's been told that you and your mom are looking after Crystal until things are sorted out. All the superheroes are on full alert, looking for any sign of them.'

As Warren's posture relaxed, the class breathed a collective sigh of relief and one girl sent a rain cloud over to the books to extinguish the flames.

Just then the teacher bustled in busily carrying piles of books and a number of pens which rolled off the pile as she set it down on her desk, completely oblivious to the smoking bookcase behind her.

'Ok,' she said breezily, 'let's pick up where we left off yesterday. 1954 I believe it was…'

As she carried on in this manner Warren groaned inwardly and let his head sink down onto his arms.

He woke up as the bell went for lunch and after collecting his pile of school lunch he ambled over to his table hoping for a bit of peace of quiet. Unfortunately about 20 nervous girls holding a giant envelope, which, he assumed, contained an equally giant card, thwarted him in this.

One of them was pushed forwards by the others and, with a quiver in her voice, asked if he'd mind giving the card to Crystal 'cos everyone in the year had signed it.

Honestly he did mind – how stupid would he look walking home with this under his arm? He was going to say something to that effect when all the fight suddenly went out of him and shrugged his shoulders and mumbled 'Sure'.

They squealed with excitement but hastily composed themselves after one look. He was only midway through his meal when his name was announced over the tannoy to visit Principal Powers' office. When he got there she motioned for him to sit down before starting.

'Now, Warren, I heard about your little escapades on the bus and in History today. Do you really think that's appropriate behaviour on your second day as a sophomore?'

'Honestly, yes,' he said. 'Crystal is completely spaced out, really distant from everyone and all they can do is wonder why she hasn't called them! They're just so self-centred and immature!'

'Warren, you have to remember that most of these children haven't experienced grief or loss like you and Crystal has. They don't understand how people react to these situations so they just want to be involved.'

'I know that, it's just that they keep asking me stuff…' he trailed off.

'And you don't know how to be the centre of attention. It is difficult at first but of you're going to carry on doing good deeds like these then people are going to pay attention to you. And when you become a hero, it will simply intensify.'

'But what about when Crystal comes back to school? They're so insensitive about it, they're likely to ask really inappropriate questions.'

'Well maybe I can ask the students not to overburden Crystal with questions at the moment. She has more than enough to deal with for the time being poor child…I mean it's bad enough that her mother died but to have her father implicated in it all-.' She broke off suddenly with a gasp and her eyes widened. 'Warren, forget I said that. I shouldn't have mentioned it. Crystal didn't want anyone to know about her father so I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't tell anyone.'

'Of course I won't but I did already know though Crystal doesn't know I know – if you know what I mean. There was a picture of her with him and her mom in her house. I know her father is working with mine. I just don't know why.'

'Leave that to the NVTS. Now you'd better get back to your lessons. I'll write you a note for Coach Boomer. Save the Citizen was my favourite as a student,' she said as she scripted a piece. 'Sometimes I can't believe you still play it. Still,' as she signed the note with a flourish, 'many more citizens have been saved since it was introduced so I guess it's not so surprising it's still in use. Let Crystal know we're all thinking of her, won't you?'

He nodded and slowly wandered to the gym. He'd heard about this Save the Citizen game and he wasn't too sure if he was looking forward to it or not. He could already hear the Coach pairing people up as he walked in.

'Peace! Where have you been? You're twenty minutes late. I ought to report you to Principal Powers.'

'I wouldn't bother,' he said as he handed him the note.

'Hmm,' he said with displeasure, 'well change and get back in here. You're up next as the villain paired with Miss Pinati.'

He returned to find his partner, a redheaded girl, standing opposite two guys.

'Peace and Pinati vs. Stronghold and Geld,' the Coach called.

'I'm Layla,' the girl whispered as they got into place.

Warren glanced at her, not in the mood for niceties, 'Just leave this to me, sidekick,' he muttered.

Silence descended on the crowd as the buzzer sounded. They'd seen Warren's power in the cafeteria and were interested to see what he'd make of a super strong guy who could fly and one who could, well, glow.

Warren watched as Stronghold took off towards the ceiling of the gym, followed his flight path and then flung two well-placed fireballs straight into his stomach. He was knocked out of the sky and crashed back down onto the gym floor leaving a sizeable dent and him seeing stars. But Warren didn't notice the impact he'd had on one of his strongest classmen. Something had come over him – he felt all the anger he had for his father and Crystal's father wash over him and all he could see was the 'pink mist' as he'd heard it called so many times.

His arms erupted in flames drawing gasps from some of the crowd. He saw the boy with unnaturally bright hair edging his way towards the dummy that now dangled mere inches above the gaping hole that symbolised it's death.

'Hey!' he called.

The boy jumped but ran on towards the dummy. Warren had just thrown two large fireballs in the boy's direction when all of a sudden, two vines shot out of nowhere, wrapping around the boy's ankles causing him to fall to the floor and the fireballs to shoot harmlessly above him head. The dummy fell through the hole and the buzzer sounded.

As it did so, Warren shot a dark look at his partner and growled, 'What the hell did you do that for? I thought I told you to leave this to me.'

He stalked off back to the changing rooms as the girl shouted at his retreating back, 'I wasn't going to let you kill him!'

He changed hurriedly and made it just in time to the first bus off this 'god-forsaken hell hole'.

After calling in at the Paper Lantern, he returned home to a very familiar scene. His front door was ajar and he couldn't hear any voices inside…

A/N: I know it's evil but I couldn't resist! I hope that the next chapter will be up soon, I've already started writing it so fingers crossed! I hope you like it and please review, even if it's just a word or two!


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Yay! This story has had over 2700 hits! Thank you guys for reading it, I hope you enjoy it!

And I'd just like to say to the person who left me the anonymous review calling Crystal a Mary-Sue at the first chapter clearly did not read on as she does not personify the other Mary-Sues that frequent enough of the rant, I hope you enjoy the chapter and drop me a line to let me know what you thought!

_Warning: Some scenes unsuitable for those who are easily distressed._

Cautiously he pushed open the door. Every part of him was on high alert, the adrenaline rushing through him gave him a tingling feeling and the hairs on the back on his neck were standing on end. He was jumpy, ready to incinerate anything that moved.

He checked that the floor was safe to walk on and hesitantly proceeded through his hallway. He couldn't hear anything and it was dark. Shadows flickered as car headlamps passed his house. He checked the front room, dining room, the den and the study. They all seemed to be fine. That left upstairs and the kitchen. He crept up to the door of his kitchen when suddenly he froze at the sound of rustling. He held his hand ready in case what he thought was behind the door was actually there. Slowly he pushed open the door.

'Oh good Warren, I'm glad you're home. Listen, would you go and fetch the other two bags of groceries in from the car and shut the front door when you come back in, there's a terrible draught blowing through.'

Warren visibly relaxed and let out the breath he realised he'd been holding. It was only his mom bringing in the groceries. He smiled and fetched the bags and emptied out the contents onto the breakfast bar.

'Where's Crystal?' he asked as he stacked bread into the cupboard.

'Upstairs, I haven't seen much of her today. I tried talking to her earlier but there wasn't a response. I thought she'd prefer to be alone but maybe you could try having a word. And if you can, mention that the coroner is releasing her mother tomorrow so the funeral will need to be arranged. But we'll have to see the solicitor first because he rang as well saying he needed to speak to Crystal about the funeral arrangements and her mom's will. I'm sorry to have to pile all this onto you Warren but you two communicate better than she and I do.'

He nodded and ambled upstairs pausing only to swing his school bag into his room. He tentatively knocked and, when he heard no response, opened the door quietly.

Warren saw her sat on the floor next to the bed, encircled in the duvet and clutching a razor in her hand. He moved cautiously round to face her and sat down on the floor opposite. The remaining light coming through the trees dappled on her face making her appear more vulnerable than she already was.

'Crystal?' he said softly.

She started, as if she hadn't noticed his presence until that moment. Her eyes slid back into focus as they stared at the person who had helped her so much already. Now she needed him to help her again.

'Warren?' she asked, her voice high and trembling.

'What are you doing Crystal?' he questioned in the same gentle tone.

'I-I don't know,' she stuttered. 'I'd run out of tissues so I went to your mom's bathroom to fetch some more and I saw the razor sitting there beside the sink and suddenly I felt so tired and thought it would be so nice not to feel all of this anymore. So I took it and came back here. But then I couldn't do it. I was too afraid.'

Her chin trembled and a few tears rolled down her cheeks. Warren's mind was working in overtime. She'd tried to die? He knew he shouldn't have gone to school. And why hadn't his mom tried harder to talk to Crystal? But he pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind.

'Crystal, give me the razor,' he said.

Her hand shook as she tried to move it towards him.

'Come on now, you can do it,' he coerced as she slowly held it out to him.

He took it and laid it to one side. He took her by the hands and made her look straight at him.

'Come with me, you can't stay in here any longer. You've not left the room for hours and you need a change of scenery. We'll get this changed. Come and sit with me and we'll get through this.'

Stiffly she got up and, with Warren's help, stumbled out of her room and into his. He sat in his chair and tucked a red blanket around her shoulders. He sat opposite her on his bed but wheeled the chair towards him so they were face to face.

'Crystal, you need to talk to me. I am always here for you. Seriously, day or night, I will stop and talk to you, about anything. And I know I don't know what you're feeling but I understand loss. I've lived without my dad for thirteen years and I probably won't see him again except on TV. Ok, so whenever you want to talk, I'm listening.'

The two sat silently for almost 30 minutes before Crystal spoke.

'I feel…I feel so stuck. Like someone has paused my life and I can't find the play button. Nothing happens. I just stay in that room, wishing I could find a way to move on. I don't want to forget this pain, I don't think I ever can but I know I can't stay wrapped in eternal grief. It's too much and I'm so tired,' she finally said.

'I think I have a way for you to do that. Now, it may not be what you want to deal with and it will be just one really difficult thing that you have to do in a list of tricky tasks but I think it will help you maybe find some peace.'

He waited for a response and continued after Crystal nodded slowly.

'My mom told me that the coroner is releasing your mom's body to you now and also the solicitor called about the will and funeral arrangements. Now you can probably go tomorrow to get this all sorted and maybe start to move on. What do you think?'

Her chin trembled but she held the tears back.

'I think I'd like to do that,' she choked out.

It was ten o'clock the next morning when the three of them walked into the solicitor's building. Mrs. Peace had had to fetch some more clothes for Crystal's from her house so she at least appeared to be doing better.

'Crystal,' the solicitor greeted her, 'I'm Mr. Davidson, won't you come in?' indicating his office. All three of them went to enter but Mr. Davidson stopped them short. 'I'm afraid I can only talk to the immediate family of Ms. Lucere.'

'Please,' she asked him, 'I want them to be with me.'

Reluctantly he nodded and ushered the three of them into his office. They sat on white leather armchairs facing the solicitor's imposing mahogany desk. Warren shuffled his chair a little closer to Crystal's to offer her support if she needed it.

'Now,' he started. 'We have rather unusual circumstances here in that everything is left to you Crystal. The house was in your mother's name and she passes it on to you including all her money, paintings and jewellery. She does ask that you donate $5000 to the disabled heroes' fund and also for you to sell the house. She specifically stated here that when she died she didn't want you to continue living in the house and instead she requested you sell it. She wrote this letter to give to you.'

He handed the letter to Crystal who took it wordlessly and nodded at the solicitor to continue.

'She also said that if, at the time of her death your father had joined with, and I quote, "some villainous people", you were to take the necklace with the bronze sun pendant and wear it constantly because it will enable you to use the sun to your advantage. Does that make sense to you?'

Again Crystal nodded, not quite able to believe she was going to wear the power-enhancing necklace worn by her mother in her superhero days that had been given to her by her grandmother. It was pretty old and very powerful, being able to draw on the energy and power of the sun in times of need.

When she took it in her hand it almost seemed to be vibrating and as she fastened the clasp around her neck a warmth spread through her and she felt calmer and more peaceful, as though a part of her mom was with her right at that moment.

'Did she say anything about where I should live?' she asked tentatively. She wasn't sure she could cope with leaving Warren's house yet and she really didn't want to move far from her school and friends.

Mr. Davidson read through his notes. 'No, she doesn't specify a place. She wrote here that she trusted you to make a wise decision about your living arrangements and as long as it's with people you know and trust she gives you her blessing.'

Crystal smiled thankfully but then stiffened at a sudden thought. What if Mrs. Peace didn't want her there on a permanent basis? What if she had just been nice to her because of her mom dying and she was going to be leaving in a few days. Hesitantly she turned her head towards Mrs. Peace.

'As long as you want to stay, our house is your house Crystal. If you were to stay on a permanent basis, which you are welcome to do, I would probably have to become your guardian, especially given the current situation with your father.'

'That's fine with me,' Crystal smiled, the first smile in a number of days. It felt strange but she was glad she could smile again. But her face darkened again when she heard the solicitor mention funeral arrangements.

'Your mother requested a simple service outdoors and to be buried next to your grandmother. She says that you'll know where she means.'

Crystal nodded. Her grandmother was buried in the hero's cemetery owned by Maxville City Hall. It was where all heroes could be buried if they so chose and she guessed her mom wanted to be remembered as Solar instead of Jane Lucere, former wife of Michael Duresco and mother of Crystal Lucere. She'd been a great hero in her time and so it was fitting that that was how the world would remember her.

'Um,' the solicitor said as he read down the list, 'she also requested no lilies and no depressing music. She wants roses and something upbeat to be played. She wrote that she didn't want you to be even more upset than you already would be. And that's it,' he concluded.

'Thank you,' Crystal said formally before rising and leaving the office followed by Warren and his mother.

'Are you ok?' asked Warren on their way back to the car.

'I guess,' she sighed, 'it's just quite overwhelming, having to deal with all of this now as opposed to in about 40 years' time.'

'I can only imagine,' said Warren's mother as they all piled into the car and drove to City Hall to report that Solar had requested to be buried in the hero cemetery.

The clerk there was very sympathetic and guided Crystal through all the choices she had to make such as how many people would be attending, flowers, music and what sort of service she'd like. They arranged for the date of the funeral to be in two days' time, Friday.

'Crystal, we're going to have to go back to your house pretty soon. You're running out of clothes and I don't think I should be the one to pick what your mother wears to be buried in either and the funeral director said he'd need the clothes tomorrow. Do you think you can manage to go today?' asked Mrs. Peace as they drove away from the City Hall.

Crystal glanced at Warren who gave her an encouraging look and squeezed her hand. 'We'll be with you always,' he said.

Slowly she nodded, 'I'm going to have to do it sometime, why not today?'

But as they pulled up at the house Crystal suddenly didn't feel so brave.

'I don't think I can go in,' she said trembling.

Oh God, can I really do this? I should have prepared for this somehow. I mean, I knew I would have to come back here some time but so soon?

'Crystal?' Warren's voice intruded into my thoughts.

He's done so much for me already and I've only known him a few days. He looks so worried, holding out his hand to me.

'Come on, I know you can do this,' his voice, back again, seemed echoing. 'We don't have to go anywhere or do anything you don't want to. Ok?' It was clearer this time.

It still amazes me that a boy who looks like he sealed his heart off long ago can be so caring and sympathetic.

I'm trembling as I take his hand. He envelops my small cold hand with his large warm one. I look up at him gratefully and he shoots me a look of encouragement.

She seems so afraid of the memories that lie in this house and honestly, I'm a little afraid for her too, though I have no idea why.

As we enter the house she shrinks back slightly but I edge her forwards. She has to confront her fears…I should know that better than anybody.

Mrs. Peace turned to Crystal, 'What would you like us to do? I guess you'd like to get your own clothes and something…' she hesitated.

'Something to bury my mom in? I know, I'll find something. Would you empty the fridge please? And collect the photos and albums – they were important to my mom.'

'Sure,' Mrs. Peace replied, confidant once more. 'Then we won't have to come back to empty the house until after the funeral.'

She nodded silently and trod quietly upstairs.

When I get upstairs it feels so strange. I haven't been here in…four days but it may as well be four years. It smells musty and unlived in.

Crystal looked around her room and opened the window slightly. She pulled her holdall off the top of the wardrobe and opened the doors.

Can I really do this? So many memories are held in these clothes…but they're happy ones. And I can't buy a whole new wardrobe. So remember the happy things and honour the sad ones but don't get trapped in them.

She stuffed shoes, underwear, jeans and tops into the bag followed by her only dress. She and her mother had bought it in Paris two years ago. It was a royal red, so deep yet shimmered as she walked. She had never worn it but instinctively knew she would do so at the funeral.

She could hear noises downstairs and wondered if they were doing ok. Her mom had an awful lot of photo albums, hers and those of her family.

Downstairs Mrs. Peace was working her way through the kitchen clearing out all the food while her son was in the front room stacking all the photo albums into some boxes he'd found in the kitchen.

He picked up a particularly heavy one but the shiny cover slipped through his fingers and it landed awkwardly on the carpet. He groaned thinking he'd have to put all the photos back into their slots but was relieved to see only one photo had fallen to the floor.

He picked it up and saw two men standing outside the gym of Sky High with their arms around each other's shoulders grinning broadly at the camera. They were in their graduation hero costumes clutching diplomas in their free hands. One was tall, dark and had a head of hair not unlike Warren's own. Unconsciously he touched his own dark head streaked with red by his power. The other man was shorter and thinner and appeared to have completely white hair.

He turned the photo over and on the back was scrawled 'Me and Baron, graduation, 1978'. He got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach and picked up the first photo of Crystal's father he'd seen, bringing the two photos together for a comparison. There was no doubt that the man next to his father was Crystal's father. He was stunned.

'_They'd been friends? Does Crystal know about this?'_ he wondered.

He heard his mom's footsteps coming towards him and quickly stuffed the old photo in with the newer one and bundled it into a box.

'Are you done yet?' she asked.

'Um,' he said, slightly caught off guard at almost being caught, 'nearly. I've just got to put the rest of these photo frames into the boxes and then put them all in the car.'

'I'll pack and you carry. Knowing you you'd probably pack them all haphazardly and break the glass!' she joked.

He gave her a wry smile but dutifully picked up the first box and carried it out to the car. As he passed the stairs he thought about how Crystal was getting on. He hadn't heard many signs of movement but didn't want to intrude. This had to be hard for her.

Crystal hovered in the doorway of her mother's room trying to summon up the will to go in. She knew that this was the beginning of saying goodbye and maybe if she put it off then she wouldn't have to or, by some miracle, all this would be over.

But then cold hard logic prevailed. Her mother was dead and no amount of hesitation could change that. She swallowed and took the first step over the threshold and towards the wardrobe.

It was a giant wardrobe and took up almost an entire wall. She pulled back the sliding doors and was met with an overwhelming scent of her mother. Tears pricked at her eyes and her throat tightened up but she forced them back. At one end of the rail was her mom's eveningwear; dresses, coats, stoles in so many colours. Her mother had loved to dress up for special occasions and even after the accident and she couldn't wear them anymore she kept them to remind her of the good times. Crystal knew she would do the same.

At the other end of the rail was one outfit of bright yellow and white. It was her mother's superhero outfit; white tights under a yellow long-sleeved leotard with a blazing sun sewn onto the front in orange. The yellow boots sat underneath the outfit with the yellow and orange mask sat on top. Crystal had only seen her mother wear that outfit on TV; she'd always tried to keep her work away from home and would change after she'd defeated the villain of the day. It was only right if she was going to be buried in a heroes cemetery that she should wear the outfit she was given in which to save the world. Carefully, she took the costume out of the wardrobe and folded it gently into another bag with the boots and mask.

Warren and his mother were sat in the front room waiting for Crystal when she came downstairs. He got up as she came in carrying her two bags.

'Hey,' he said, 'you ok?'

'I think I will be,' she said with a small smile.

A/N: Wow, that turned out to be a much bigger chapter than I expected! Well if you stuck with it this long I thank you and ask you please to review to let me know what you thought!


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Thanks for reviewing to everyone who did and I'm going to try and make Warren a bit more canon from now on, it was kinda hard writing him all sweet and stuff!

Friday, the day of her mother's funeral, rolled around too fast for Crystal's liking. She couldn't believe the day had come that she had to bury her mother. She knew it would come eventually but never had she thought it would come so soon and in such bad circumstances.

The birds were chirping the dawn chorus as Crystal finally got up at 7am after having lain awake for what seemed like hours. She dressed almost robotically in the red dress she'd taken from her house and wandered into the kitchen. She was surprised to see Warren and his mother already up and dressed drinking coffee over the breakfast bar. Warren was in his only suit and Mrs. Peace was dressed appropriately in a black skirt and sweater with an amber pendant around her neck. Crystal smiled at the gesture, she knew Mrs. Peace was trying to reflect her mom's power there.

'Morning,' said Mrs. Peace as she handed her a mug for her coffee. 'How did you sleep?'

'About the same,' Crystal replied. It was true, she hadn't slept well since her mother's death but she hoped that maybe laying her to rest would help that.

'Well that makes all three of us who didn't sleep well then,' she replied, 'I heard you get up in the night Warren.'

'Yeah,' he mumbled into his mug.

He hadn't wanted to be heard. The picture of his dad with Crystal's had been eating away at him all night so finally he'd gone into the den where they'd put all the boxes and rummaged around until he found the frame he'd stuffed the picture into.

'What were you doing?' asked his mother.

'Nothing really, couldn't sleep,' he said, trying to close down the conversation there and then. Mrs. Peace took the hint.

It was 9am when the caterers arrived to set up for the wake that would be held at the Peace household after the funeral. Warren showed them through to the dining room and Mrs. Peace answered the door to the first of flower arrangements that were arriving from all sorts of people.

In the midst of all this Crystal sat in the kitchen fiddling with her mother's necklace that she'd worn since the solicitor had given it to her. She remembered the letter she'd been given and how it had said she could only read it after the funeral. She didn't know if she could deal with it, reading her mother's words, but she knew it would just be another hurdle today that she'd have to face.

Soon the house was filled with the scent of flowers from aunts and cousins she never knew existed, from her mom's friends and from her own friends who she hadn't invited to the funeral. She hadn't seen them since the first day of school and couldn't deal with them now. A huge bouquet of gerberas arrived from Principal Powers with a note attached hoping they'd bring some colour to her day. Crystal loved gerberas and so she took those to her room and set them on the dressing table next to the window.

Sooner than Crystal would have liked it was 10.45 and they had to leave to get to the ceremony for 11. She pulled on a long black coat and tied back her hair. It was a windy and unusually cold September day as they all set out for the cemetery and all three of them stared stoically out of their windows until they reached their destination.

Silently they all got out of the car and walked slowly up to the burial plot next to Crystal's grandmother. Warren and his mother walked either side of Crystal to offer their support if it was needed. Already standing there was Principal Powers, Don Jones aka Pulsar from the NVTS, some friends of her mother's and amazingly, her mother's old sidekick Donna who could turn into multiple cushions which had, on occasion, been very useful. Crystal also noted a few guys in black suits dotted around the perimeter and when she got to Don she learned they were there just as security in case her dad tried anything. At this she swallowed, she hadn't thought about her dad 'trying anything'. She turned to Mrs. Peace and Warren, worry evident on her face.

'Don't worry, I'm sure nothing will happen. I don't think anyone could be that callous,' said Mrs. Peace reassuringly.

Warren squeezed her hand and led her to her seat next to the grave where her mother's coffin already lay with her superhero name engraved on a plaque above her real name.

The service seemed to pass in a blur for Crystal as she stared into the grave, her mother's final resting-place. The wind blew, the leaves on the trees rustled, the sun tried to break through the clouds and the minister's voice droned on but Crystal was oblivious to it all. The day had come when she had to say goodbye to her mother for the last time and Crystal wasn't sure if she was able to do it. She wasn't ready for her mother to go.

Before she knew it, the minister had finished the sermon and was holding a box out to Crystal containing some earth for her to scatter on the coffin. With a trembling hand she took a small handful and threw it at the coffin and watched as the dirt skidded over the plaque. She returned to her seat and sat, numb, as people filed past her offering their condolences. Cautiously, Mrs. Peace approached the vulnerable girl sitting by her mother's grave.

'Crystal? Are you ready to leave? People will be arriving for the wake soon and there's no one at home,' she said with as much consideration as possible.

'I can't go yet – I haven't said goodbye,' she replied.

'Ok, well, Warren can stay with you for a bit and he can call for a cab when you're ready to leave. Will that be ok?' she asked.

Crystal nodded gratefully. She knew she was putting a lot of pressure on a family she barely even knew and was indebted to them for all that they'd done for her.

Mrs. Peace turned to her son and gestured him to stay with Crystal but Warren was reluctant. Ever since he'd found that picture of their fathers together he couldn't help but think that Crystal had to have known about their friendship. After all, the photo had been in an album along with a bunch of other pictures from her dad's time at Sky High. And even if she hadn't seen the photo, it's not the sort of thing that was kept quiet. When Baron turned evil almost everyone knew whom his friends had been at school, in fact, they'd been watched for some time in case they decided to join their old friend.

Warren had lain awake most of the night getting more and more frustrated as he thought this over. And another thing that irritated him was that, as far as she knew, he didn't even know her father was Ice T! She hadn't told him but everyone knew his father was Baron Battle. And if their fathers were in league with one another, surely the kids should be open about it, especially if they were living under the same roof!

As Warren became more sullen with his mother and refused point blank to stay with Crystal, Mrs. Peace gave in and agreed that he should go home and start the wake without her. She was sure someone else would drive him there and if he was in this mood she didn't really feel it would help Crystal feel any better.

_It's such a shame_, she thought as she watched her son get into Pulsar's car, _I really thought he was opening up and maybe letting down some of those barriers. I wonder what happened._

In the car Warren stared silently out of the window until they reached the house. He got out of the car but hesitated before opening the door to the house, something didn't feel right. He pushed the door and it swung open. He turned to look back at the crowd of people outside his house and Pulsar came forward with some of his guys in suits.

Stealthily Pulsar and his men entered the house followed by Warren but instead of the attack they expected, what met their eyes was upsetting and shocking. All the flowers that had been sent to Crystal were either frozen or a pile of ash as was the food brought by the caterers.

Warren stared around in amazement at the destruction in his house. Never had he imagined that some people could be so callous. It was a funeral for God's sake! Did they have no respect for the dead and the mourning? He stood in the middle of the carnage growing steadily more angry while the house was searched.

'Warren!' came the shout from upstairs.

He found Pulsar in Crystal's room, the flowers treated like all the others and a hand-written note next to them that read,

_Hi Crystal,_

_I'm sorry I can't be there for your mother's funeral. Can you imagine what would happen if I was caught? So Baron and I did this to let you know we're not ignoring you, we just can't talk to you yet!_

_And don't worry Warren, your dad left you a message too!_

_Love, Dad_

Warren stared in disbelief at the letter for a moment before getting to his own room. A strange smell hung in the air and on the wall he found his message. Scorched into his wallpaper were a few lines from his father.

_Warren,_

_Long time no? Well it's your father as you probably guessed. Don't worry that we haven't got you in on this little idea of ours just yet, all will be revealed I promise. I anticipate the day we work side by side._

_Baron_

Warren's anger at these men boiled over and his powers, triggered, as ever, by his emotions, erupted as he threw a fireball at the message and stormed out of the room and down the stairs just as Crystal and his mother entered from the burial ground.

'Warren what's goi-.' Mrs. Peace didn't have time to finish her sentence.

'Have you seen what your father has done to my house Crystal? No? Ok, well he's basically trashed downstairs, my room and yours. Yeah, my dad helped him. So when exactly were you going to tell us your father was Ice T then? Or when were you going to tell us my dad and yours had been friends at high school?'

Warren was shouting so loudly that Crystal and his mom backed up slightly. He was so angry with her, with her dad and his dad and he really wanted to hurt someone. But he would never attack a woman so he settled for being intimidating in a more obvious way.

'Warren I -,' Crystal started.

'You what? Never meant for us to find out? Well that wasn't going to work out for you too well was it? Or did you mean to tell us but could never find the right moment? Well I guess you should have. Cos I know, my mom knows, hell I expect everyone knows Crystal so there's no secrets anymore is there? Or are there secrets? Like really you're a part of this whole thing our dads are pulling. Some sort of plant or trap, sucker us in and then boom, one day we're dead!'

He stopped shouting and glared at the girl before him with such intensity that you could almost see a small flame dancing in the pupil of each eye.

'Well?' he asked accusingly.

She opened her mouth to reply but no sound came out. Her eyes filled with tears as she pushed past him and ran upstairs.

'When I get back down here we are going to have serious words Warren Peace!' hissed Mrs. Peace as she followed the distraught girl.

When she reached Crystal, the girl was crumpled on the floor holding the letter from her father in her hands surrounded by the frozen flowers. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks and landed in her lap. Mrs. Peace knelt down beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders holding her close.

'Why – why did Warren say all that?' she sobbed.

'He was just hurt, that's all. With Warren you have to tell the absolute truth, all of the time. He can't deal with people lying to him. So many people did that when his father went away, including me, so now he has trouble trusting people. Honestly, I was surprised that he opened up to you so quickly. Maybe that's why the reaction is greater. He opened himself up more so the betrayal was more shocking.'

'But I didn't betray him,' she replied, the tears easing off now.

'I know you didn't but Warren doesn't see it that way. Not only does he feel betrayal but also all these feelings about his father have come to the surface again and he doesn't know how to deal with all of it. I've been half-expecting something like this attack to happen for some time now so that's why I wasn't too surprised. I always knew about your father and Warren's and I knew what they become. How your dad married your mom and had you. But Warren didn't and that's why he's angry.'

'So what happens next Mrs. Peace?' she asked.

'Well if you're going to be staying here then you're going to have to stop calling me Mrs. Peace. Call me Tullia. Then we're going to get changed and sort all this mess out and I'm going to have words with a certain young man.'


	11. Chapter 11

Mrs. Peace had just left and Crystal sat on the floor of her room wiping her eyes with the hem of her dress. She surveyed her room and was gratified to see that not too much damage had been done. She moved her father's note to the dresser and picked up her mother's letter that she'd hidden under the mirror. She settled herself on the bed and prepared herself for what was in store.

_Dear Crystal,_

_If you're reading this, this means I died while you are still young because in this letter I will tell you everything I would have told you myself when you got old enough to hear it. But, as it is, it is important for you to know these things so you can carry on with your life._

_Crystal you have to know that your father and Baron Battle were friends at Sky High, best friends in fact, practically inseparable but after Baron turned evil, your father disowned him. _('Bit late there Mom,' Crystal thought.)

But there is something else you must also know Crystal. When Baron Battle turned against the superhero community, your father almost went with him. He was seduced by the power offered to him by Baron and the only thing that stopped him going was you. He could never refuse you anything sweetheart and, even though I hate to say this, you may have to use that to your advantage one day. If your father ever joins Baron Battle the likelihood of him coming for you is extremely high and so, if you ever have to fight him, remind him that he is your daddy and you worry about him. As harsh as that may seem Crystal and dishonourable too, please don't be afraid to do it if you really have to.

Don't be ashamed about this Crystal and whatever you do, please don't hide it when it really matters. When you hide things people don't trust you and I can tell that you will need people around you who trust you and vice versa. Never lose anyone through lying Crystal, it is one of the hardest things to come back from, because after that, the trust is gone.

Darling, I can't imagine how you must be feeling right now but I want you to know that I love you so much and I will always be there to watch over you, no matter what happens.

I know there is so much I probably missed out on, your first date, first kiss, your graduation and I know I will miss your wedding and I am so sorry Crystal that I've left you to deal with all this by yourself. You might hate me for leaving you and I understand this but remember, as long as you think about me, I will always be around, guiding you and seeing those special moments in your life. You will never be alone.

I'm going to finish writing now because otherwise I'm going to start crying and ruin the letter but I leave you with the knowledge that one day you will be a great superhero and do so much good for the world. Catch a bag guy for me sweetie,

Love, Mom xxx

Crystal stared at the letter, tears rolling down her face as she heard the echoes of her mom's voice disappear in her head. She had never felt so alone in the world. Her mom was gone and her dad was holed up somewhere with Baron Battle planning goodness knows what.

But her mom's words rang in her head, Never lose anyone through lying, and she knew she had to set things straight with Warren. He had been so supportive and it wasn't right that she'd treated him that way. She had to sort this out; no matter how scared she was or how likely it was they'd get in a fight. But first she'd get changed, just in case.

Warren was lying on his floor surrounded by the devastation left by his father. His mom had just yelled at him, which hadn't helped his furious mood, and then she'd sent him to his room saying it didn't matter if he trashed it, it would have to be re-done anyway. He stared up at the black ceiling as the last of the sunlight filtered through the trees creating a dappled light effect across his face.

He was definitely not looking forward to school on Monday. He was way behind with his classes but more importantly there would be no opportunities for him to avoid Crystal. They shared all their classes and while he could avoid speaking to her for some time, he was pretty sure that she'd try and talk to him about his attitude towards her sooner or later. However, that conversation came even sooner than he was expecting.

'Warren?' came a quiet voice accompanied by a soft knock on the door.

'What?' he growled, attempting to make it clear he had no desire to converse just then.

'I want to know what's going on,' she said in a voice that she hoped sounded much braver than she felt.

'What do you mean?' he asked, still with his back to her.

'You, acting like you did after the funeral. What did I do wrong?'

'Were you not listening then? Did you not hear me explicitly spell it out for you?'

He got up off the floor and turned to face her.

'I heard you shouting a lot of stuff about me not telling you who my dad was when I moved in but at that time I didn't really think about it. It wasn't exactly my priority,' she said in a measured tone, trying not to get angry herself.

'So after you'd had time to think didn't you realise it would be a good idea to tell us that it was your dad who had teamed up with my dad for some unknown reason. You see, before we rescued you my mom told me that she had known Ice T at school when he was friends with my dad but that was it. And you didn't think it would be a good idea to mention who your dad was?' he said, getting louder as he went on.

'I was ashamed Warren!' she shouted. 'I thought that if anyone understood what it was like to feel shame about your -.'

'Don't you dare say it! I am _not_ ashamed of my father! I know he's done some bad stuff, really bad, I'm not stupid, but am I ashamed? Hell no! He went out fighting, by himself, against the best superhero of the day! I am not ashamed of my father and how dare you assume so!'

Up until this moment Warren had been able to keep his flames under control. He knew he could trash his room but all the same, he'd rather not but now he didn't care anymore. She had insulted his father and no one got away with that, not even a girl.

Without warning flames erupted from his arms, the small flicker in his eyes now grew larger and the ends of his hair began smoking. He looked demonic almost as he stared at her with such rage that Crystal backed up for a moment before preparing herself for a battle.

Warren shot a line of fire towards her, singeing her hair slightly. She recoiled slightly but wasn't going to back down now. Maybe Warren just needed to let all of it out. She shot back a probe of her own, which he dodged.

'Are we really going to do this?' she asked.

Warren didn't answer, maybe he didn't hear, and he shot a fireball straight at her. She dropped to the floor and sent a beam of light at him from her position on the ground, which he avoided, sending a stream of fireballs at her. She rolled from side to side managing to avoid all of them except one that caught her elbow.

She cried out in pain and downstairs Mrs. Peace looked up from the book she was reading. She knew they were fighting and resolved to keep an ear open in case the fight got any more severe. If that was the case she could always sort them out.

Crystal sat nursing her elbow behind an old sofa, defending her position from the corner of Warren's room with light streams but they weren't as strong as they could have been. To be fighting at her optimum level she needed the use of both hands but right now she couldn't straighten her elbow and she needed all her concentration to stay alive against Warren.

He was on the other side of his room attempting to shoot fireballs around the sofa to get at Crystal. No thoughts ran through his mind. It was as if his body was acting independently of reason and he just kept firing even though he could hear her cries. In a weird way, they almost spurred him on. He wanted to see how far it would go before one of them would crack.

In her corner Crystal was getting tired. Soon she would have to give up but what the consequences of that would be she dreaded to think. As she sat, flinching at every fireball that landed close to her, she slowly became aware of warmth on her neck. She looked down to see the orange gem in her mother's necklace glowing and she remembered the properties it held. '_But was there enough sunlight left?_' she wondered.

Bravely she poked her head out and saw the sun had not yet set, meaning she could still draw on its power. Unsure of what to do next, she stuck her hand out towards the window opposite her and willed the sun's power to her – what else could she do?

But it worked, she could feel its warmth and power running through her and she shot a powerful, concentrated bolt of light straight at Warren. He tried to avoid it but he was tired too and it clipped him on the shoulder, spinning him round.

Taking advantage of his momentary weakness and feeling empowered, Crystal came out from behind the sofa and threw herself at Warren. She wasn't sure of the reasoning behind it but something within her knew that he needed to be brought back from whatever place he'd gone to that made him so ruthless.

He landed flat on his back, winded, but looked into her eyes with his own that were filled with fire. What he saw he wasn't sure but it made the flames dim slightly. Nevertheless, he threw her off and a physical battle ensued. Although Warren was bigger and stronger, Crystal had the moves taught to her by Coach Boomer and some extra lessons in self-defence she'd taken in case she was ever attacked. This seemed as good a time as any to use them.

Time passed in which punches were thrown, landed and missed; bodies and the nearest things to hand were tossed around the room and the two teenagers became increasingly exhausted. They were too evenly matched but neither would give in. They were mid-tackle when something happened that blew them apart.

Mrs. Peace was standing in the doorway of Warren's room looking as angry as either of them had ever seen her.

'Warren! Crystal! Now I let this continue as long as I felt necessary for you two to work out your issues with each other but this has gone far enough! Brawling on the floor! Crystal, quite frankly I expected better of you. And as for you Warren, fighting with a girl? This really is a new low. Men and boys your own age I can accept but attacking a girl is something I thought I'd brought you up to abhor, not to participate in! Now look at the mess you have made!' she finished gesturing to the bombsight behind them that had been a bedroom just under an hour ago.

There were piles of smoking things everywhere; scorch marks on the walls and Warren's sofa was destroyed. Black dust hung in the air and the wardrobe door was hanging off its hinges from when Warren had thrown Crystal into it.

'Now I don't care how tired you are but you are going to tidy this up this instant. There will be no rest until you do, I shall make sure of that!'

And with that she stormed out of the room only to return five minutes later with bin liners and a bowl of hot soapy water and cloths.

'Trash in here, clean with this and I don't want to hear a word of protest. I could ground you but what good would that do? This makes much more sense. Go on,' she said, 'get on with it!'

After a moment or two they got up off the floor, aching all over and slowly got to work. Wordlessly Warren dumped the smouldering contents of his room into black trash bags while Crystal washed down the paintwork, the windows and everything else that had got covered in soot.

After a while, the silence became awkward. They were running out of things to tidy and soon, Crystal knew she would have to go back to her room and this thing with Warren wouldn't be resolved. She was thinking desperately of what she could say to him but was saved this trouble by the gruff tones coming from the far side of the room.

'We need to sort this out,' he said.

'Your room's almost done,' she said, slightly confused.

'Not the room,' he replied through what sounded like gritted teeth. 'You, me, living here. There can't be this thing between us, this uncertainty, cos it's gonna start affecting my mom. She's sensitive to these things.'

'Oh right,' said Crystal, blushing, 'yeah I know what you mean. So what do you propose?'

'Well let's get a few things straight first. Generally I am not a nice guy. What happened with you was an exception and I think that put us on a weird footing. So from now on, I'm going to go back to being the normal me; sullen, untalkative and prone to angry outbursts. I'm still angry at you for what you did -.'

Crystal opened her mouth to protest but was cut off.

'Let me finish. I'm still angry but while we're at home I'll try to keep a lid on it. I know some of it is because you brought my dad back into my life, I'm not stupid, but it doesn't stop me being pissed at you. Ok, now you go.'

'I understand that you're angry and I accept my responsibility for that. I shouldn't have lied. So, hopefully, eventually we'll get past this. At school I'll keep out of your way. I should probably pay attention to my friends anyway. I checked my voicemail earlier and found forty messages. I guess they feel neglected.'

She trailed off and another silence ensued.

'So, are we good?' she asked hesitantly.

'As good as we can be,' he replied. 'We better get this stuff to the garage.'

She went to pick up a bag but, without thinking, used her injured arm. She cried out in pain, dropping the bag on the floor.

'What's matter?' he asked.

'It's my arm, it got hurt when we were fighting,' she said, showing it to him.

'Oh, sorry,' he replied. 'Don't worry about the bags. I'll take them down. My mom might be able to help you with your arm. But this is the last nice thing I'm doing for you ok?'

She nodded gratefully and made her way to the kitchen while Warren emptied his room of all his stuff.

Meanwhile, across town, in a hideout under Maxville mountain range, the two fathers watched on monitors as their children scrubbed and tidied and went about their business.

'Well I didn't expect a reconciliation so soon Battle, is your son going soft?' said Ice T to Baron Battle.

'_My_ son? Like hell iceman. Make another comment like that and I'll deny you the ray for a week,' replied the Baron, his eyes steely.

'What? No, Baron, you wouldn't do that! I'm so nearly there! Didn't you see what I did to that building in London?' said Ice T, a slight panic audible in his voice.

'Yes, but I also saw that you helped those two people escape before you encased the entire building in ice. What happened there?' he said accusingly.

'I…don't know. But I do know I need to be more powerful. Come on Baron, you wouldn't deny your old friend, would you?' he said desperately.

'You're right. I think it's safe to use the ray again, come on.'

The two of them walked over to a room set into the wall of the mountain and Ice T went in and sat on the chair situated below a giant ray gun.

'Ready?' asked Baron.

Crystal's father nodded. Baron signalled to the operator to start the ray and muttered in his ear, 'Add the conversion ray again, he's starting to lapse into his heroic ways again.'

A/N: Another chapter done! I hope you guys enjoy it and review, even if it's a couple of words!


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: I got the Sky High DVD the other day (yay) but realised that Warren's father should be called Barron and not Baron so that's why the spelling's changed!

Crystal's father woke up from his treatment with the ray to see Barron standing over him.

'Get up Benjamin. We need to strike while the iron's hot.' Barron's voice was gruff and brisk.

'What?' he said confusedly. 'Don't be so damn cryptic Barron, what's going on?'

'Never mind that, just follow me.'

Dazed from the after-effects of the ray, Benjamin stumbled after Barron who led him to the desk they'd been sitting at the previous day. On one of the monitors you could see Crystal and Warren at breakfast.

'She's going back to school today. She'll be vulnerable and now that Warren isn't by her side like a limpet maybe we'll have a chance to implement our plan.'

'Plan? What plan? Since when do we have a plan Barron?'

'While you were _sleeping_,' Barron paused to shoot Benjamin a contemptuous look, 'I thought up how we are going to create the greatest number of supervillains the world has ever known.'

'And would you care to elaborate perhaps? You know, sometimes I wonder why I even bothered breaking you out of jail. You said then we'd be partners, in everything.'

'But you were a hero then and I don't have a problem lying to heroes. Or don't you remember that?'

'I was _not_ a hero!' retorted Benjamin, his cheeks colouring at the insult.

'Oh you were my dear friend. You tried to trick me into letting you use the power-enhancer so you could supposedly defeat heroes but your true intention was to destroy me for hurting your wife. Did you really think I wouldn't have a mind reader watching you 24-7? But now you really are a villain. You see, apart from this power-enhancer, my men also invented a conversion ray that can change the strongest of heroes into villains – _my _villains.'

'Well Barron, that was pretty clever of you and if I still had an ounce of goodness and justice in me I'd probably try to kill you but, as it is, I've got to thank you. I have never known power such as this.'

'I knew you'd come around. So…about our plan.'

The two buried their heads deep in conversation, peering at the monitors and their unwitting children.

Meanwhile, at the Peace household, Warren, his mother and Crystal were finishing up their breakfast.

'You two better get going you know,' said Mrs. Peace. 'Especially you Crystal, you don't want to miss the bus on your first day back.'

'Yep, I just have to grab my bag and then I'm ready. What about you Warren?'

He looked at her, 'Do you remember what I said after our fight? This is the part of me that doesn't do mornings and will be sullen for some time, ok?'

She backed off, not wishing to re-start this feud and went to get her bag.

'Warren, you could try and be a bit nicer,' reprimanded his mother, 'I saw what a nice man you can be.'

'And as great as that was, look how opposite I became during the fight. I practically broke her arm. It's better like this and you know it. I'll see you after school, I'm not working tonight.'

'Ok sweetie, have a good day back, be good and get the work you missed out on. You're a bright boy you know.'

'As you tell me every time I'm behind on my work. See you.'

'Bye Mrs. Pe- Tullia!' called Crystal as she followed Warren out of the door.

The two walked side by side to the bus stop just at the end of the road. Crystal was concentrating on how hard her heart was beating. She was, strangely, nervous at how she'd be received back at school. She'd been one of the most popular girls in the sophomore class but now who knew what would happen? She hadn't talked to her friends since the first day of the semester and she worried they wouldn't want anything to do with her. Warren was just thinking about the amount of work he'd missed while looking after Crystal; it was practically a whole week! This was the last time he did people favours.

They were both so engrossed in their own thoughts that neither of them noticed a black thorny vine snake out of the bushes of a garden they passed and scratch Crystal's leg leaving four bleeding scratch marks on her ankle.

She cried out and looked for the cause of the pain but the vine had retracted back into the bushes and was no where to be seen.

'What?' asked Warren. If she was going to make plays for sympathy today he really wasn't in the mood.

'Um,' Crystal started and then stopped when she saw the annoyance in Warren's eyes. 'It's nothing, just a scratch.'

'Good. Well hurry up, we'll miss the bus at this rate.'

She nodded and sped up. She didn't know how to get to the stop and didn't want to get left behind. So she left the marks alone and didn't see the small pieces of silver in the skin that were left behind by the vine.

Luckily or unluckily, depending on your viewpoint, they didn't miss the bus and were subjected to fierce whispers as they boarded the bus together. Crystal looked around for her friends and was enormously relived when Dara waved her over to an empty seat. And after a glare from Warren, Ethan moved to sit next to Zach so Warren had a double seat to himself. He had a funny feeling he wasn't going to enjoy this day.

Under the mountain range, the two villains were met by Thorn, the creator of the vine that had scratched Crystal.

'Did it work?' asked Barron.

'Yes, the chips are implanted. It shouldn't take long for them to interface with the neurotransmitters in her blood and act as a homing beacon. She'll be giving out a clear signal as soon as she sets foot on the campus.'

'Excellent, it's all falling into place,' said Barron watching the screen which would soon give off Sky High's location.

A/N: Sorry it's so short but I figured you guys definitely deserved an update and this is as much as I can manage right now! Hopefully there'll be an update soon but please review!


	13. Chapter 13

Hidden away, Barron and Benjamin watched the radar monitor for the first beep that would alert them to Sky High's position. Luckily for them the school moved only once every 24 hours and not constantly like some of the schools they knew about.

'Are you sure this is going to work?' asked Benjamin tentatively.

'What?' snapped Barron. 'Of course I am! Don't be so impatient Benjamin. You'll have to do a lot more waiting before the day is out but when the action starts it will be glorious.'

Disgruntled, Benjamin sloped off to get some coffee but was stopped in his tracks when he heard the long awaited sound. He moved swiftly back to the monitoring desk and saw the green dot showing Sky High's position for the day.

If Barron was excited he didn't show it. His face remained blank except for the eyes that had lit up and you could almost see his brain working if you stared into the bottomless eyes.

On the campus the busses had only been touched down a few minutes but Warren had already received several looks of fear and apprehension but also some of respect. He had to admit, it was a nice change not to be met with fear everywhere he went. As his bus had emptied Crystal had waved to him as she went with her friends to her first lesson. She'd looked sorry she was abandoning him but he was fine with it. Honestly, he preferred it to being dragged round like a show piece.

As he followed her to History (after all, they did share the same lessons) he was relieved to be back at school. Despite the fact he had no friends here except Crystal, he was looking forward to having something to do other than baby-sit a depressed teen. While she'd needed him it had been fine but it had become irritating towards the end and he knew he needed a rest.

'Warren, Crystal, welcome back,' said Mrs. Jay.

Mrs. Jay was almost as old as Nurse Spex and was a retired superhero. She'd been active from the 1960s until the 1980s when she'd had to retire from active service. There couldn't be any active superheroes that were over 40 because it had been decided they couldn't fight as effectively as the younger ones, which was, unfortunately, true. Her white hair was twisted up in a perfect chignon and her pince-nez perched on the end of her nose.

She issued them with their textbooks and started the lesson.

'Warren and Crystal, this term we are studying some of the most notorious villains of the past 100 years. It is important you know about these enemies because villains today still use some of the tried and tested methods of villainy. This lesson we will start with the villains of World War One. Now, as you all know…'

A familiar sinking feeling came over Warren as Mrs. Jay continued with the lesson. Studying the villains of the past 100 years meant they would have to learn about his father at some point and that was a lesson he was not looking forward to.

The day rambled on and both Warren and Crystal collected increasing amounts of catch-up work from various classes including so many textbooks from their Geography lesson that, between them, they were sure they were carrying around an entire tree.

Finally, they reached their last lesson of the day, English, and they were greeted by the twittering of Miss Avis. She'd been a sidekick in the late 1980s and could turn into several species of small bird.

'Ah, Mr. Peace and Miss Lucere, so glad you have returned. You must both see me at the end of the lesson to collect the work you have missed out on. This term we are studying texts of the 21st century. To maintain your façade for the outside world you must have knowledge of general things.'

'What does it matter if we do or don't?' called out Lash. 'We'll be saving everyone's butt almost everyday. Who cares if we know the best books of the past six years?'

'Some of us are actually interested in this sort of thing you know! You're not going to be a superhero 24-7!' retorted Layla.

'Thank you Miss Dianthe, that's enough from you. And as for you Mr. Talaris, you can see me at the end of the lesson as well for a word about your behaviour.'

It was only after Miss Avis had given out the assignments for that lesson that Crystal felt her leg twinge.

'Ow,' she muttered, rubbing her leg under the table.

'What is it?' whispered back Dara.

'I caught my leg on some brambles on the way to school and it's just sore, that's all,' she replied.

'Let me look,' said another girl at their table who had a secondary power of healing. She'd made hero because, ironically, she could drain energy from anything, including people, which meant they would die.

Crystal showed her leg to the girl who gasped and recoiled from the leg. The silver that had been placed into her bloodstream had formed some sort of barrier while the surrounding area was red and inflamed.

'This is way beyond me. You need to see Nurse Spex,' said the girl.

'Girls,' said Miss Avis in a weary tone, 'what is all the fuss?'

'Crystal's leg is really messed up. She needs to go to the Nurse,' said Crystal.

'So I see,' said Miss Avis, backing away slightly. 'Very well, here is a hall pass. You better take your things. I'm sure Mr. Peace is capable of bringing your work to you.'

Crystal limped into Nurse Spex's office and showed her the leg.

'Well dear, that is a mystery. And you say you only got scratched by some thorns? Well let's take a little look then,' she said, removing her glasses.

'Hmm, curious,' she said, putting them back on.

'What? What's curious?' asked Crystal nervously.

'I can't see through this metal. And my vision can penetrate lead so there's something not quite right here. We'd better visit Principal Powers.'

They arrived at the principal's office just a few minutes later and entered a room dominated by a giant mahogany desk.

'Hello Nurse Spex, Crystal. I'm not saying it's not nice to see you back in school Crystal but what seems to be the problem?'

So again, Crystal explained her story to the Principal who was most perplexed. She called in Mr. Medulla to examine the metal who concluded that this would appear to be the work of an enemy because, clearly, this was not natural. On seeing Crystal's worried face, Principal Powers tried to reassure her.

'Don't worry dear. You might not know this but after school, Sky High is hosting a meeting for superheroes around the globe. There's over a thousand attending and some of them are very gifted with science and medicine. I'm sure there will be somebody who can help you. If you remain behind at the end of the day I'll see what I can do. Now you must excuse me. I need to remind the bus drivers to park at the back of the building.'

She disappeared in a flash of light just as the bell for the end of the day rang. After calling Tullia to let her know she'd be late home and possibly Warren too, she sat glumly outside the Principal's office hoping she wouldn't have to wait too long for her leg to be fixed.

'Crystal? What are you still doing here?'

A voice jolted her out of her thoughts. She looked up to see Layla, Will, Dara and Ethan standing in front of her with Warren a little way behind.

'Principal Powers thinks there may be someone coming to this big superhero thing tonight who can help with my leg,' she said. 'What about you? All the busses will have gone by now.'

'I know,' replied Layla. 'We're helping tonight. Ushering and pointing people in the right direction. That sort of thing.'

'Oh, right. Well at least I'll have someone to talk to when I'm not being pointed at and prodded over then,' she said smiling.

The group moved on to the entrance to the school to greet the superheroes except Warren who hung back.

'I've got your books,' he said gruffly, holding them out to her.

'Thanks,' she said.

They stood in the hallway for a moment in an awkward silence before Warren spoke.

'I'm sorry about your leg. We should have looked at it this morning. I just wasn't having a good morning.'

'It's fine. I didn't notice it til English and I could have done something about it earlier but I didn't. So let's not place blame, yes?'

He nodded.

'Right, let's go and accost heroes into helping a teen in distress then,' she said.

He smiled a wry smile behind her back and followed her down the hallway. As he did so, he couldn't help noticing how cute she looked in her little pink skirt and white wraparound top. He shook the thought from his head and carried on to the hall. If he'd only looked out of the window he would have seen something large, dark and very worrying.


	14. Chapter 14

'Right,' Barron whispered to his crew.

They were all standing in a pod hovering at the back of Sky High, cloaked by a device invented by the same man who had thought up the ray they were about to use. Each of his crew, all ten of them, plus he and Benjamin, held a gun with the ability to emit the ray. He wasn't going to make the same mistake Royal Pain had made and only bring one gun. He hadn't enough time.

'This is it. In a minute we are going to burst through the window of the main hall and as soon as you get in there start shooting. And feel free to use your powers but remember,' he paused for effect, 'no one dies. We are going to need everyone if we're to fight off any rescue teams. Now Benjamin has some words on tactical.'

Crystal's father came to the front, dressed in black and white; a change from his usual blue and white outfit. He'd also changed his name. He was no longer Ice T but Black Ice; a meaner, more powerful version of his former self.

'Thorn, you take three men to the left. Kass, you take three men to the right. Barron and I will take two straight for the middle. Now, chances are, we're going to sustain some pretty heavy fire. There's over a thousand heroes here tonight including some of the most powerful in the world so use the shields provided and of course, Barron and I will be doing everything possible to make your jobs easier. Are we ready?'

Meanwhile in the hall, Warren, Crystal and the rest of the ushers were wandering around making sure everyone had drinks and making polite conversation if they were intercepted but still they hadn't found Principal Powers or anyone to help Crystal. They'd given up asking the guests themselves. They were just thought to be rude and greedy kids.

They ground to a natural halt once they'd walked round the hall fruitlessly for the fifth time and slumped against a wall.

'This is stupid,' Warren muttered. 'No one's going to help us, or rather you Crystal if you're wandering around with me. Don't think I can't tell what they're thinking. I've seen it often enough.'

'Maybe they're just having a bad day,' suggested Crystal desperately. She didn't want Warren to feel bad on her account.

'All thousand of them? Yeah right,' he spat back at her bitterly.

'Listen, I was just trying to be nice. You know if wouldn't harm you -.'

'Crystal, just leave it, yeh?' said Dara, quickly interrupting. She knew Crystal meant well but sometimes she just got a bit carried away with it.

'Hey, look! Principal Powers is about to speak. Maybe we can get her afterwards!' said Ethan excitedly.

'Ladies and gentlemen,' she started, 'it is a pleasure and an honour to see so many famous -.'

She was cut off by the window behind her crashing inwards and twelve men leaping into her main hall, shooting blue rays at everyone in the crowd.

'That's not…' said Will in disbelief.

'That is,' said Warren with a mixture of anger and disappointment in his voice when he saw his father.

'Crystal, is that…?' asked Dara tentatively.

'It's not… it can't be… oh God it is,' she said when she saw her father marching in side by side with Barron Battle.

'I guess we're in the same boat now Crystal,' said Warren dryly before realising that hiding was probably a good idea and dragging the group out of the hall and hiding in Medulla's lab.

'Oh shit, oh God, oh God what do we do?' panicked Crystal.

'Ok, you, Layla and Ethan stay here. Will, Dara and I will go on recon. and see what we can find out.'

'What? No you can't do that!' she said angrily.

'I can and I will. You are injured, Layla won't use her powers for violence and besides there's not a lot of plant life in the main hall and Ethan, sorry man, but you're not going to be much good if we get caught. Now just stay here and don't make any sound,' he replied in a brusque tone.

So stealthily, Will, Dara and Warren crept back round to the main hall where an almighty battle was raging. Warren saw that the villains who had arrived with his father were shooting beams at the heroes who were retaliating but, incredibly, some of the heroes were attacking the other heroes!

The three children stared at each other as they witnessed this spectacle but only Warren knew the reason for this apparent betrayal of loyalties. They were just about to leave when they saw the Commander, Jetstream and Principal Powers all get zapped extremely close to them. And then they heard their principal say,

'I've got to tell Barron and Benjamin that their children and your son are here. He'll be so pleased!'

With that she whisked off to him in a flash of white light and seconds later she was by his side whispering, no doubt, this information into his ear. Warren saw a sadistic smile settle on his father's face and he nodded.

Quickly, they ran back to the others and recounted what they'd seen.

'Why did they do that?' asked Will in bewilderment.

'My dad is a war lord,' said Warren resignedly. 'He can induce war, control existing fights and bring them to such a scale that he almost destroyed the world once.'

Everyone was silent and looked at him open-mouthed.

'But what are we going to do?' worried Dara. 'We're only kids.'

'I called your mom while you were gone Warren. I thought she might be able to calm the situation down, or at least get us out of here. But apparently our fathers have either hidden the school or moved it because no one can find it yet so no rescue missions can be launched either! We're stuck!'

And with that, small sobs escaped her and Dara too. The two huddled together and Layla went to comfort them.

'Ok, so your dad knows we're in the building,' Will said to Warren.

'And he's going to come looking for us and find us. The school is big but we can't out run him forever. And I'm sure that someone in there has heat vision and could find us, even if we hid in the walls.'

'And I'd fly us out but not knowing where we even are, I wouldn't want to risk it. We could be over the Atlantic Ocean and I'd have to fly miles to get us back to land.'

'So what do we do?' asked Ethan.

'We wait, I guess. And if they find us, we fight,' Warren said simply. 'I'm not going down easy so you better all be behind this.'

They all nodded and huddled together in a corner of the lab praying that someone would locate the school before Barron and Benjamin found them.


	15. Chapter 15

Barron and Benjamin stood on the platform surveying the fruits of their labour. Their mission had been risky, deadly even, but incredibly they'd pulled it off. Admittedly five of their men had been lost but the gains were far beyond their wildest dreams. Just over eight hundred former superheroes stood at their feet, looking up at their new leaders. In the battle many had died but those who had survived were well worth the sacrifice.

In fact, they had too many converts and hadn't got enough room on the pod they'd arrived in. Kass, who could fly, had gone back to base to round up anyone who was there to fly shuttles from the base to the school so in time all the ex-heroes would be safely hidden under the Maxville mountain range. This would take some time but Barron wasn't worried. They'd cloaked the school from anyone searching for it and now all that was left for him to do was find his son and whomever he was running around with.

'Welcome, my brothers and sisters, to the rest of your lives!' he announced to his waiting minions. 'My son, Black's daughter, the son of the Commander and some other children are in the school. Now we don't know where they are, who can find them?'

Three people stepped forward.

'Three! Well I suppose it isn't a great power. Anyway you're going to have to split up. Search the school! I want them found! But,' he paused, 'they are not to be hurt. I want to speak with them all myself and I don't doubt that Black will have some words for his daughter,' he said with a smirk.

As quick as he could Ethan ran back to the group and relayed what he'd just heard. When the fighting had stopped he'd gone to see what was going on. He was glad he had; now they had a chance at least.

'What do we do?' asked Ethan, the fear evident in his voice. He was sweating so much he had to keep pushing his glasses back up his face.

'They're splitting up you say?' asked Warren.

When Ethan nodded, Warren carried on with his train of thought.

'If they don't have active powers, they just sense and stuff like that then maybe we can take them on. Chances are, they'll only find us one at a time and I think that between us we can take on one bad guy. Yes?'

He stared round at everyone with ferocity in his eyes. Some nodded but Will and Dara especially were enthusiastic. Perhaps because they had confidence in their powers, who knew, but Warren was grateful for it at this point.

'So what now?' whispered Crystal.

'We wait.'

Back in the main hall, the three men had just split up, each determined to find the kids before the other and impress Barron Battle. After all, now that some of his key men had died, he might be looking for replacements.

Sam explored outside the school while John took himself towards the cafeteria and Mike made a beeline for the science labs…

The six of them were hiding behind Medulla's desk, adrenaline was beating through their bodies and their breaths came short and sharp.

Steps echoed along the corridors of Sky High but only one set approached the science labs. Mike Tinowski was a 23-year-old sidekick for some big-shot space distorter. He'd been at the event to 'represent' his hero. He hated his job and wanted to prove to everyone that he had a purpose on this planet. He scanned each room as he walked past and found nothing until he came upon the lab where he detected six bodies burning brightly on his radar. They were scared, he could tell that much and easy pickings. After all, they were only kids.

'Oh God! Oh God, oh God, oh God,' whispered Crystal frantically. 'We're going to die, in Medulla's lab of all places. Warren, what do we do?'

She clutched at him, holding his arm so tightly it almost hurt.

'Crystal, shut up. If they can see us anyway we don't want to give them a headstart by making a noise.'

'But they're coming and I don't want to die…' she whimpered, tears starting to roll down her cheeks.

The door started to open. 'Oh kids!' called Mike quietly; he didn't want any of the others stealing his prize.

'We're going to -.'

'Oh for God's sake!' muttered Warren. He turned and kissed her hard and fast. She was shocked into silence and Warren took the opportunity to throw Ethan along the floor directly at Mike's feet.

Ethan turned into liquid mid-air and slid under the guy's feet causing him to fall to the floor. Quickly Warren leapt over the desk and landed on top of Mike thrusting a flaming hand into the guy's face.

'Now be quiet and I won't kill you,' he hissed.

'You wouldn't -,' said Mike almost scoffing.

'Wouldn't I?' said Warren pushing his hand a little closer.

Mike swallowed nervously.

'There's a good guy. Now we're going to tie you up here and we're going to wait for another of your friends to come along. Got it?'

Mike, cowed by fear of having his face burnt off by a clearly unstable teen, seemed to go limp. He'd fainted which made carrying him over to the giant cupboard in the corner of the room an awful lot easier. Layla created thick strong vines that bound their captive from head to foot.

'What was that?' whispered Crystal.

'I call that saving our asses. What do you call it?' said Warren.

'Not that you ass! What you did before, with the kissing!'

'You wouldn't shut up. I was getting distracted and that's the only way I know how to shut a girl up!' he hissed.

'You could have just asked,' she said sulkily. Secretly she'd hoped there was more behind it but now clearly wasn't the time to pursue anything of that nature.

'Ok, so now what?' asked Will in hushed tones.

'Well I don't think we should move, especially now that we've got _him _to think about. I say we stick it out here. If my dad knows we're in the school he isn't going to leave until he finds us. We're going to have to face him sooner or later. I'd just prefer it to be when these guys aren't walking around,' replied Warren.

'And it would make sense for your dad to try and get the heroes away from the school wouldn't it?' said Will. 'And there's so many of them that it's going to take a while. So I guess we have some time before the showdown. Maybe the school will be found by then and we'll be saved.'

He sounded hopeful but in the pit of everyone's stomach lay the dread that came with the knowledge that they were going to have to go up against the most notorious villain ever to walk the halls of Sky High. It wasn't something anyone would look forward to, least of all six sophomores.

Having had no luck outside, Sam had come back indoors and was sweeping the school from top to bottom. He was nervous – who knew what, or who, was lurking in these corridors? John, meanwhile, having found nothing in the cafeteria except very old Hero sandwiches, was also making a full sweep of the school. He backed down a corridor just as Sam was doing the same thing.

They bumped into each other and spun around, fists raised. John landed the first punch and then Sam retaliated before realising who it was he had just hit.

'John! John! Damn put down your hands! We're on the same side!'

'Sorry. I thought you were one of those kids,' he said.

'Me too. So, you haven't had any luck either?' asked Sam.

'Nope,' he replied, 'and come to think of it, I haven't seen Mike since we set off. Where do you think he got to?'

'Maybe he gave up. Anyway, let's carry on.'

In a room, just off the corridor currently occupied by Sam and Mike sat the six teens. Crystal was shaking like a leaf, which surprised Warren. He had seen her face so much adversity in the past month or so but now she seemed ready to break.

Sam gazed around the corridor and detected the heat given off by the children. He nudged John and gestured in the direction of the source. Slowly but surely they crept over to the door and turned the handle.

As soon as they entered the room, Will and Dara leapt on the two men and Layla strung out some vines which wrapped around their ankles, pulling them to the ground. Will and Dara sat astride their captives, pinning them to the ground.

'Are there any more of you looking for us?' asked Will.

'Like I'm going to tell you, you little punk,' spat back John.

'You might want to think about re-phrasing your reply there,' said Warren menacingly, appearing over the captives, hands aflame.

'Ah, Barron's kid. You're just like your father,' said Sam.

'If that means fighting for what you believe in then yes,' he hissed. 'Now I suggest you shut it or else you may see the side of my father that you wouldn't like. Now are there any more of you?'

'A guy, called Mike,' whispered Sam, a little afraid of the situation he was in.

'Layla, tie these guys up and let them join their friend,' Warren said, the contempt audible in his voice.

With the three searchers safely trapped in a corner of the room, the group of them sat down to think.

'What do we do now?' asked Ethan. Despite the fact that this was the most danger he'd ever been in, he was both scared and tremendously excited at the same time. He was the only sidekick and he knew he couldn't kick anyone's butt but he hoped to be of some help.

'I think you're going to have to go on recon again. See how many are left in the hall. Then we'll plan from there,' replied Warren. He'd surprised himself and everyone else by taking charge of the whole operation. Usually Will would have assumed the role of leader but somehow Warren seemed right for the job.

Ethan crept out of the door towards the hall leaving the others in the lab. He was shaking like a leaf and his heart was beating so loudly he was sure someone would hear it.

Silently he stole forward and peered through a gap in the doors. There seemed to be about fifty of the former heroes left in the hall and they were filing out of the window into some sort of ship. He ran back to the others as fast as he could to tell them what he had seen.

Back in the hall, business continued as normal for Barron and Black, who had just pulled off the biggest plot ever dared to be construed.

'Right! That seems to be the last of them,' said Barron to Black, 'so where are those three I sent out to find the kids?'

'They're not back then?' said Black.

'Obviously not! God knows what those kids are doing! They've had time to bypass all sorts of systems or find a way to contact the outside world! I can't wait any longer, I've got to find them myself!'

'That won't be necessary.'

At the back of the hall the double doors were flung open and filling the gap left were the six of them, ready to fight.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: For Camelion who wouldn't stop bugging me so this chapter is for you. I hope you all like it – there's a lot of pressure owing to lack of updates, which can be explained by very important exams, which will determine the rest of my life!

'Well, well. What do we have here? Warren, so glad you could join us and look Black, there's your daughter. I'm sure you two have some catching up to do. And then Will Stronghold! We are honoured and his little girlfriend the hippie. But I'm afraid I don't know the last one. No matter, I'm sure we'll have time to get acquainted after you join me.'

Barron stood in the middle of the hall, surveying the five children who faced him. Admittedly, he'd been slightly surprised that they had come out to face him but that didn't matter now. He'd just shoot them with his ray and they'd join him. He reached for his ray gun strapped to his ankle but it wasn't there. He looked to Black but he didn't have his either.

'Looking for these?' asked Warren holding the two guns in his hand before crushing them beneath his boot.

Barron was slightly off-put by this but tried not to show it. It looked like he was going to have to fight these kids himself but he didn't want to hurt them.

'That's a good trick Warren. Mind telling me how you did that?'

'Oh, it wasn't me. It was Ethan,' he said gesturing to the orange puddle on the floor, which rose, upward to form the boy again.

Over the summer his powers had developed and he could now transport matter along with him when he melted. He'd managed to sneak round the back of the two villains and liquefy their weapons right out of their holsters.

'Getting a sidekick to do your work for you now, son? I thought you'd have more pride!' scorned Barron, trying to get under his son's skin. It appeared to be working.

'I am _not _your son. You lost the right to call me that many years ago,' snarled Warren through gritted teeth. 'And just because I believe in giving others the chance to display their powers does not make me weak.'

'Oh but you are my son, in so many ways! Your reaction there was so typical of me – I defend my allies too, as you'd know if you joined me.'

'Well we're never going to do that!' called out Will. 'You haven't got those ray guns anymore and none of us would ever willingly join you!'

'Ah, Mr. Stronghold, I was wondering when you were going to pipe up!' said Barron sarcastically. 'Yes, it is true I no longer have my rays but has Warren warned you about my actual power? Now I thought I wasn't going to have to use it but you have proved me wrong. But, before we begin, Black, would you like to say something to Crystal? It may be your last chance…'

Bravely, Crystal stepped forward to speak to the man she had used to call Daddy.

'Crystal, sweetie. How are you?' he said in a voice dripping with false concern. 'It's nice to see you again. How are you coping without Mom? Or maybe I should ask Mr. Peace that question, seeing as the two of you are so cosy at the moment.'

'I expect you know how I am. I wouldn't put it past you to have cameras following my every move,' she hissed.

'You have a volatile daughter there, Black. You've raised her well,' said Barron.

'Why thank you, though when I left her she was a much sweeter, far less hostile child. I think this is the influence of your son.'

'Good, Crystal always seemed to be a bit wimpish. I'm glad you've toughened her up son, it'll make the fight _so _much more interesting!'

Barron raised his hands. Warren panicked – he didn't want to end up fighting his friends.

'Wait,' he said. 'Before you do your thing just answer me this. How did you find the school? It's meant to be protected from villains like you.'

'Ah, I'm glad you asked me this, even if you only did so to delay the inevitable. Now, Crystal sweetie, would you take a look at your leg? You see that metal there? Well that was planted by Thorn, one of my men, in the scratch you got on your way to school today. What a day to wear a skirt. So the metal that got into your system was actually neurotransmitters encased in metal which interfaced with your brain and gave us the location of the school. They acted as a rather splendid homing beacon for my ship.'

They all stared mouths open at what they had just heard.

'Don't look so surprised, children. It does nothing for your faces. Now -.'

Barron was interrupted by the sounds of an engine pulling up outside the window and saw three of his men dis-embarking from the ship; Kass, Thorn and Creon.

'My friends, so glad you could join us! Now then, you're just in time for the show.'

Once more, Barron raised his hands to unleash the power that would surely cause the destruction of these teens. One hit from the stream of flame he would throw out would turn these kids on each other in a blink of an eye. But not only were Barron's flames the way in which he changed people, they were also his main weapon, just like his son.

He launched one fireball straight at his son who did the only thing possible, which was to counter it with one of his own. The fireballs collided and exploded mid-air. Barron simply shrugged and threw another but Warren hit it again and again and again as Barron threw more and more. He didn't care, he had enough stamina to last all evening but it was slightly irritating. He hadn't expected to _do _any fighting.

But suddenly, he and Warren were not the only ones who were fighting. Streams of light were streaming towards Black who had been about to attack Warren to speed the process up. The streams came from Crystal, who else, who was attacking her father to save her friend. He was caught off guard and one of the beams grazed his shoulder. He jumped and shot stream after stream of ice at his daughter who countered them just as Warren countered his father's attacks.

Seeing that their bosses were in trouble, Kass, Thorn and Creon moved forward to help but found themselves faced with Will, Dara and Layla.

'Please,' scoffed Creon and went to push the two girls aside. But Dara was strong and held her ground. She took hold of his arm and flung him across the gym.

Kass and Thorn were surprised and for a moment, shocked into stillness. This gave Will the opportunity to do the same to Kass, leaving Layla a clear route to Thorn.

It looked like the showdown Barron had been waiting for was about to begin, but not in the way he had hoped.


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: Well now that I'm officially done with formal education, at least until September 2007 I should be able to update far more frequently and hopefully win back some readers and reviewers! So if you read this please review it – it would make me very happy indeed!

-

No one moved. Barron stared at Warren; Black stared at his daughter and Creon, Kass and Thorn faced off on their opponents.

'Don't just stand there men, show these kids what you're made of! They may be children but don't let that put you -.'

Barron was stopped mid-speech by a blow to the stomach. Warren, seeing an opportunity had launched himself at his father, knocking him to the ground.

'Move!' yelled Warren to his friends as he struggled with his father, 'don't let them get the upper hand!'

Suddenly the room sprung into action. Barron and Warren seemed to have forgotten they had powers and instead were involved in a hand to hand brawl in the middle of the floor. Warren rained the blows down on his father, feeling all the hate and rage and hurt of the past eleven years flow through him, channelling itself into his fists.

On the other side of the room, Crystal fought her father too. She was hiding behind a pillar. She was frightened, her legs were shaking and she didn't want to hurt her father but he didn't seem to feel the same way. She could tell that he was approaching. The air was getting colder and the pillar at her back felt icy. She whimpered, feeling that this was the moment in which she was going to die.

She went to put her head in her hands in despair but her fingers brushed something. The necklace her mom had given her and then all the pain she felt, that she'd bottled up inside came rushing back. She remembered how angry she'd been at her dad - he'd killed her mom and here she was whimpering behind a stone pillar. This was cowardly and that was not something her mother had brought her up to be. She knew what she had to do.

Remembering somehow a lesson of P.E they'd once had she dived to the side of the pillar, just as it shattered and shot beams of light from her hands at her father. They almost grazed his arm but it wasn't enough to even make him blink. He'd been caught off guard when he hadn't found her behind the pillar but all that was about to change. She had nowhere to hide and her little beams of light were no match for him.

'Crystal, darling, what use are beams of light? You can save money on the electric bill, sure, but they're no good against me. I'm surprised you're even in Hero class!'

'You left us when I was ten. It was light then but five years have passed. So you wouldn't know that they now do _this!'_

And with all her courage she ran towards her father and shot at him, wildly, with her heat-emitting light beams. One hit his left shoulder and another his abdomen but as she reached him he grabbed hold of her and flung her over his head.

Meanwhile on the other side of the hall, three more fights were taking place. Creon and Dara were trading blows in one corner of the room while Will was guarding the open window to stop Kass flying out of it. The two were involved in what looked like a dogfight as the two opponents flew around each other landing hits occasionally and trying to knock each other out of the air.

That left Layla and Thorn, complete opposites, on the floor creating a jungle around themselves. As Thorn lived up to his name, Layla attempted to counter his attacks by surrounding herself with foliage.

Although his thorns couldn't get in, the snaking vines Thorn sent after her could and as she peered out, watching him, two wrapped themselves around her ankles and yanked her to the floor. As they started to drag her out of the jungle she had created, she had an idea. She had no idea if it would work but anything was worth a shot in this situation. Concentrating harder than she ever had before, she focused her attention on the vines around her ankles and slowly they turned from black and spiky to green and sprouting blossoms. The vines released Layla who scrambled back into her hiding spot, a small smile spreading across her face as she heard Thorn's cry of anger.

However, soon he started to make a different noise. It started off as a wail but soon changed into a gargling sound. Layla parted the branches and shuffled quietly towards the edge of her den. It appeared as though Thorn's own vines were attacking him.

The purity and good intentions with which Layla's plants were filled were attacking the darkness and evil within Thorn. Making the best of the situation and with Thorn already occupied, Layla sent more vines out towards him, which bound him tightly. He couldn't move his hands, the source of his powers, and so he was stuck. He fell down and immediately Layla took this opportunity to tie him to one of the pillars near her.

Layla found that she was tired. She had never used her power so much in one go. Usually she revived plants, grew new little ones but today she had created a jungle and done things she had never thought possible but there was no time to think about that now. She had to find Ethan.

When everything had kicked off, Ethan had run. He knew he was no good in a fight but he did know that he was good with electronics. He had known from a very young age that electronics, robotics, technology basically, were going to be the future of crime and crime fighting. This had given him the drive to learn as much as he could about technology and now he was something of a whizz-kid at it.

He was no Gwen Grayson, or rather Sue Tenny, he wasn't a technopath. He just knew how things worked and he was going to use the opportunity while the bad guys were distracted to figure out either how to de-cloak the school or find its location and transmit it to Hero Command Central. For some reason, Barron hadn't thought to disable communications between Sky High and the ground but this was no good if no one knew where they were!

_Think, Ethan, think!_ he'd thought as he'd run along the halls. _Where would the internal controls to the school be?_

Then it had hit him. The principal's office! It was right in the centre of the school and it made sense that Principal Powers would want to have control of her own school. Ethan turned and ran back towards the office. He tried the door handle but it was locked.

_Dammit! How am I supposed to get in now?_ he had thought. He'd banged his fist against the door in frustration and sunk to the floor. He couldn't do anything if he couldn't even get to the controls! Then it struck him and he was so pleased no one had been around to see him be such an idiot. He melted and shimmied under the door. The gap was small but he was only liquid and managed it easily.

He looked around, searching for some clue as to where these controls might be. He sat in her chair and absent-mindedly tapped his fingers on the desk as he thought. Without warning the walnut inlay of the desk flipped over revealing a stainless steel panel covered with screens, buttons, switches and so on.

He thanked his lucky stars and quickly got to work figuring out what all the information on the screens meant and what each button did.

He was in the middle of his work when there was a small knock on the door. He was so shocked that he melted on the spot.

'Ethan, are you in there? It's me, Layla!'

On hearing the quiet but urgent whisper of his friend Ethan re-solidified and opened the door, locking it behind her as she slipped in.

'I'm so pleased you're alright! I had no idea where you were and then I thought about where the controls were likely to be so I came here!' she said very quickly, enveloping him in a giant hug.

'Yeah, I'm fine though you really scared me with that knock. I thought I was done for. What's going on?' he replied, anxious for news of his friends.

'Well I tied Thorn to a pillar; Will is flying around with Kass; Dara and Creon are doing more damage to the building than to each other; Crystal's fighting her dad, as is Warren. I just had to come and see how you were doing! How's it going up here?' she asked.

'Not great. I found a map of the stars, I can control the temperature of every room in the building, and I've found schematics of the water pipes, ventilation shafts, everything other than what will help us. I think the only way to decloak the school is from Barron's ship and there's no way we can reach it.'

Ethan held his head in his hands in despair. What good was knowing all this stuff if he couldn't use it to help his friends? He was useless!

'Ok, let's think about this logically,' said Layla not wanting to lose her head as well. She wandered around the room thinking. 'Now if I were a control panel showing the exact location of the school where would I be? I would have to be in this room, but where?'

She sat in a chair staring around the room before getting up and dragging Ethan to his feet as well.

'Well we are just going to have to do this the old-fashioned way. Come on!' she encouraged as she started pulling pictures off the wall.

Ethan joined in, glad to be doing something at last. They only exposed bits of wall, the pain faded by having been covered up for so long until Ethan reached one picture depicting the first principal of Sky High, Morpheus. He tried to lift it off but it wouldn't budge.

'Layla!' he cried excitedly. 'I think I've found something!'

The two of them tried to dislodge it but couldn't so Layla ran her fingers around the edge of the picture, trying to find a crack or something to help them get it off the wall.

'Wait,' said Ethan having thought of something. 'We should try pressing the frame, that always seems to work in the movies!'

Layla gave him a scornful look. They were in the middle of a battle with some extremely dangerous super villains and all he could think about were films!

'Well do you have a better idea?' he snapped.

She shook her head and both of them tried pressing the intricate wood carving around the edge of the picture when suddenly the picture retracted and another metal panel slid into view.

'Haha! What did I tell you?' cried Ethan before examining the screen in front of him.

'Well?' asked Layla anxiously, 'where are we?'

'According to this, and checking it with the astrological map over there,' he said gesturing to Principal Powers' desk, 'we appear to be hovering 10,000 feet over the giant lake, 20km away from the Maxville mountain range.'

-

Back on the ground, the parents of all the children except the Strongholds were stuck in Hero Command Central, anxiously waiting for news of their kids. James Stronghold, Will's grandfather, was marching up and down the office terrifying the poor employees as he shouted and ranted that nothing was being done to rectify the situation.

'And you don't even have a tracer on the school? What kind of people are you?' he shouted, making the light shades tremble.

'Sir, there is one but its being hidden by whatever is hiding the school. The technology that's being used is very advanced, we have nothing to combat it!' replied one very nervous member of staff named Ted

'Well what do we pay taxes for then?' he roared.

Ted whimpered and sat back down at his desk wishing he could turn invisible right about now instead of being able to turn into a cat.

Madeline, Will's grandmother, went to calm her husband for the fiftieth time that evening leaving Tullia Peace with the parents of Dara, Layla and Ethan. Tullia had tried to calm everyone down using her power but found that she was too nervous to use it and had accidentally sent someone into hysterics already.

She checked her watch and found it was almost 5am. The sun's rays started to peak over the horizon. Another day had come. Were Warren and Crystal still alive? She could only hope.


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: Argh! Bad author I know but it has been so hot in the UK recently that I just had no motivation to sit at my computer for a couple of hours to do you guys a chapter! I know  I'm sorry but I've done one now because I'm going on holiday on Friday for two weeks so I really thought I should. Also, I realised I made an error in putting Will's parents in the HCC when they had been abducted by Barron so I changed them into Will's grandparents!

-

Back in the main hall everyone was exhausted, especially the children who had never used their powers so much for so long. Will could no longer fly which meant he had to take cover as Kass attempted to drop things on him. When he could, Will helped out Dara in her fight against Creon. Luckily for them Thorn was still tied to his pillar and no one had tried to free him yet.

Warren and Barron Battle were still fighting. Warren had made a barricade out of a door and some fallen pillar that had crumbled when he'd slammed his father into it one too many times. Barron hadn't even thought about trying to turn the children against him, the goal was now to hurt his son. He'd been embarrassed when he'd been caught off guard and everything within him now was focused on revenge. He shot at his son more frequently than before but only hit him occasionally. Warren was more nimble than he appeared but was still praying for rescue. He couldn't hold his dad off for much longer.

Both Crystal and her father were tired. They were fighting out of a necessity to stay alive, mechanically without any passion or originality. Crystal wasn't sure how much longer she could last against her father without help but her friends had more than enough to deal with. She would have to cope on her own.

Glancing past her father she saw the dawn arrive. She was shocked it was that time already and then thought of Tullia. She must be so worried. As sunlight started to stream into the room, lighting up dark corners, one of the beams struck Crystal right in the face, catching the necklace she had been given. She smiled as she felt the warmth spread through her body and knew now that she had the power to defeat her father. She didn't have to appeal to him like a child as her mother had suggested. She could fight him as an equal, now that she had her power boost.

Summoning her remaining energy and leapt from her defensive position to face her father effectively shooting sun beams from her hands. Her father had been caught off guard and hadn't expected the attack. The two beams landed straight on his chest, the best hit Crystal had achieved all day and knocked him clear across the room, crashing into Creon.

Inspired by this show of power, Dara and Will found new strength in their tired muscles and flung the two villains into the wall. Even though they managed to knock them unconscious they weren't taking any chances and bound them with vines and other random foliage from Layla's jungle. With Creon they were still unsure as to whether the vines would hold him but had to hope he would stay unconscious until help arrived.

Kass, outraged at seeing Black and Creon trussed up like turkeys flew down to the ground but on his descent Crystal shot sunbeams straight at him. His wings now had two gaping holes in them and Kass plummeted into the ground, knocking himself unconscious as well. Crystal made a mental note to thank her mother later for saving their lives, Dara and Will tied Kass up as well, dumping him next to his comrades.

Barron turned around at all the noise and when he saw the defeat of his villains he stood there with his jaw hanging. As utter disbelief washed over him, Warren took this opportunity to launch himself over his barricade which was almost gone and landed squarely on his father's back, knocking him to the ground and, amazingly, also unconscious. Warren could scarcely believe that he'd just done that but shook off the feeling as his friends came to help tie up his father.

'We should find Layla and Ethan. We've got to get rescued,' said Will urgently.

They all agreed and started running out of the hall only to crash into Will as he stopped suddenly.

'Does anyone know where they are?' he asked.

-

Back on the ground all the parents were sat holding new cups of coffee as the clock ticked round to 7am. No one spoke, everyone was too tired to murmur platitudes to each other and the workers were almost dead from exhaustion having been terrorised by James Stronghold into working around the clock.

Suddenly, into the silence, exploded the sound of a telephone. Before anyone could stop him, Will's grandfather had dived towards the phone and almost crushed it in his eagerness to answer the call.

'Listen to me you pathetic excuse for a human being! You have no idea who you are messing with! If you have hurt one hair on any of those kids' heads I will personally come up there and make you wish you were never born do you understand me?' he yelled so loudly that the light fixtures rattled.

On the other end of the phone Ethan turned very pale and sank to the floor in a quivering heap leaving Layla to take the call.

'Um, hello?' she said quietly.

'Who is this?' barked James.

'This is Layla, sir. I'm a friend of Will's,' came the trembling reply.

'Ah, um, right. I expect you want to speak with your mother then,' he said gruffly, clearly embarrassed at having shouted at a young girl.

'Yes but first don't you want to know where the school is? You need to send rescue teams as soon as possible. When I left there was some pretty heavy fighting going on,' she said urgently.

'You know where the school is? Quickly child tell me!' he snapped.

'We're 20km away from the Maxville mountain range, 10,000 feet above the lake.'

As she gave this information it was relayed to the Hero Support Service which started its journey towards the school. Then the phone was passed over to Layla's mother who had been hovering next to the phone ever since she had found it was Layla on the other end.

'Layla! Are you alright? Are you hurt? What's happening? How did this happen? Are you ok?' she gabbled out all at once.

'I'm fine, I'm just tired. It's a really long story, I have no idea how it happened and I am fine,' she said with a smile. Her mother's neurotic behaviour could almost always bring a smile to her face although in this case the behaviour was understandable.

'What about the other kids? Are they ok?' she asked for the other parents.

'I don't know-.' Layla stopped as she was cut off in mid sentence as the door of the office exploded into the room.

A/N: little evil smile I hope this keeps you hanging on! The next one will be longer I promise!


	19. Chapter 19

'Layla? Ethan?' called a voice into the room.

'Will?' called back Layla cautiously from her hiding place into which she had flung herself. Ethan's puddle quivered next to her under the filing cabinet.

'Yes it's me and I brought everyone else. Now where are you?' he said a little impatiently.

She crawled out from behind the cabinet and Ethan reformed once he'd wiggled his way out. Will caught her in a rib-crushing embrace while Ethan was clapped on the back by Warren and hugged by Crystal and Dara. They were so busy in their celebrations that it took Layla a minute or two to remember that she'd been on the phone prior to Will's entry.

'Hello? Hello? What the hell is going on?' came the tinny voice of Will's grandfather down the phone line.

Layla gasped and rushed back to the phone.

'Hello?' she said meekly.

'What the devil is going on child? What just happened?' barked James Stronghold.

'Um, Will just pulled the door off its hinges to get into the room so I got slightly distracted,' she said blushing.

'Will is there? Put him on the phone. I want to talk to that young man,' he snapped.

Layla gladly held the phone out to Will who tried to placate his grandfather while Layla caught up with what had happened after she'd left the battle.

'And they're still there? What if they've broken out? I don't think we can take them again!' she panicked.

'Relax,' said Warren. There was an authority and assured tone in his voice that none of them yet carried. It was reminiscent of the Commander when he arrived on the scene of an incident. 'They were all unconscious when we left and you said help was on the way right? Well they'll be here soon so just calm down.'

Layla released the tension in her shoulders and leaned into Will who had returned from his interrogation and had passed the phone over to Dara whose mother could be heard by them all.

Suddenly they all became aware of the quiet sound of sobbing coming from the corner of the room. They turned and saw Crystal in the corner; her head on her knees and her hair hung about her face. She was clutching her mother's necklace in her hand as suppressed sobs made her body tremble.

'Crystal?' said Layla and went to comfort her but Warren stopped her.

'I'll go,' he said and sat down next to the wreck of a girl. He put his arm around her and she relaxed into his body.

'Why the tears Blondie?'

'I guess it just hit me that my Dad's a bad guy now. Completely, one hundred percent bad. I mean, he was trying to kill me. It was like he didn't even register it was me, I just some hero kid he had to stop. I guess I always thought he would come back. You know, look after me now that – that Mom's gone. But I was wrong.'

'Now you know how I felt aged five. I would sit up at night looking out at the sky wondering if he would ever come back. Then he got busted for his quadruple life sentence and I realised he wasn't coming back so I toughened up. He wasn't going to be there for me, so I had to be.'

'I never knew,' she said looking up at him.

'No one does. Well, did. But don't you go thinking you can spread this around cos if you do…' he trailed off but didn't need to say any more. He knew Crystal wouldn't tell anyone any more than he would tell anyone about what she had just said.

'Um, Warren?' said Will.

'Yeah?' he replied, looking up.

'Your mom wants a word.'

Silently he took the phone and watched as Dara and Layla gathered around Crystal in an attempt to comfort her.

'Hi Mom,' he said wearily.

'Thank God you're ok. You are ok aren't you? Not bleeding profusely from anywhere? And Crystal's ok too?'

He gave a rare smile that no one saw. 'I'm fine Mom, really. No one is bleeding and Crystal's doing fine. A bit shook up; the revelation into who her father really is has kinda freaked her out but we'll be ok.'

'Thank God,' she said again, the relief evident in her voice. She had always feared that a battle between her son and her ex-husband would end in death for her boy. 'The Support Team is arriving in the main hall now so you need to go and meet them. They'll bring you home ok?' she said tearfully, the emotion of the day finally getting to her.

'On my way as I speak. I'll see you soon Mom,' he said and hung up the phone. He gathered his friends and they walked tentatively back to the main hall where they had left the villains entwined in Layla's vines.

Not sure of what to expect they approached the doors tentatively and peeped round. To their immense relief they saw large white power dampening bracelets around the wrists of Barron, Black, Thorn, Creon and Kass as they were marched into a large white van which hovered outside the window.

Men in black combat gear with HCC stamped on their backs in white were inspecting the room as Warren, Layla, Will, Ethan, Crystal and Dara walked in. One of the men looked up.

'Hey! You're the kids we're looking for!' he said with surprise in his voice.

'Clearly you weren't doing a very good job – we've been standing there for the past few minutes,' Warren said scornfully as he walked to the man who seemed to be in charge. 'We'd like to get back to ground now if that's alright with you,' he said.

The group were directed onto the nearest transport and flown back to the HCC where they were almost crushed by the hugs from their parents or in Will's case, grandparents. When the greetings were done, James addressed the assembled parents and children.

'While I appreciate you want to take your children home and I'm sure the children are desperate for some sleep, we need their statements now before the events of the past day dim in their mind.'

'I don't think there's any danger of that,' muttered Warren to no one in particular but Crystal overheard and smiled.

'There will of course be a ceremony to mark your bravery and your vital role in the capture of five extremely dangerous supervillains but right now we need those statements. You will be all pleased to know that the villains themselves are in custody as we speak being interrogated about the whereabouts of the one thousand missing superheroes,' James continued.

'Excuse me sir,' said Ethan.

'Yes?'

'Did you find the bodies as well?'

'Bodies? What bodies?' blustered James.

'When I was watching the main hall after the initial fight, there was a giant pile of bodies pushed into a corner.'

'What? Why didn't you say something?' said Will, grabbing at Ethan roughly.

'I didn't want to because I didn't know who was in the pile and who wasn't. It could have been anyone and I didn't think it was a good idea to freak everyone out in case we had to fight,' he said simply.

'That wasn't your call to make!' shouted Will and launched himself at Ethan who promptly turned into a puddle through which Will fell into the arms of his grandfather.

James held his grandson tightly to stop him crushing the strangely orange child into a million pieces. For a while Will fought to get away but his grandfather was much stronger and restrained him as much as possible without actually hurting the boy.

'What Ethan did was right boy, even if it does hurt,' he said quietly.

'But it's Mom and Dad! Don't you care at all?' he protested.

'How dare you question whether I care or not!' James thundered. 'They're my son and daughter-in-law in case you had forgotten!'

By this time everyone else had turned away so the two of them had at least a little bit of privacy. Exhausted employees of the HCC turned up to usher the children into interview rooms while maintaining at least a five foot radius from James Stronghold at all times.

'We will find your parents Will,' he said gruffly. 'Wherever they are, whatever state they're in, I promise you we will find them.'


	20. Chapter 20

Meanwhile, back at Barron's lair under the mountain range the eight hundred former heroes and Barron's one remaining original team member were getting restless. Vader had only been on Barron's side for the past year and was still new to the supervillain gig. He wasn't confident that he could control eight hundred powerful superheroes. The bodies of the dead heroes and villains were piled in a storage area. They'd probably be used for ransom – the good guys always wanted the body back.

Of course now that these heroes were now villains, they were beginning to display traits commonly found among the evil; greed, a desire for authority and power and ruthless nature. Unfortunately, ten more former heroes had already been killed in scuffles between some of the more powerful ex-heroes. Factions were forming and Vader was worried that when Barron returned, he wouldn't be able to control his new army.

His watch beeped the hour: 8am. Where was Barron? He couldn't leave the mountain in the hands of these people who had no loyalty towards his leader and he couldn't ask one of _them_ to find him. He'd look stupid and who knows if they could be trusted? He would have to sit tight and hope things resolved themselves, preferably in his favour.

'Hey! Short stack!' yelled one of the disgruntled ex-heroes.

Vader turned around. He was a little sensitive about his height and at only 5'6" it was understandable.

'What?' he asked through gritted teeth.

'When's Barron back? I thought we were going to be doing something slightly more exciting than sitting around in this hole!'

'This is _not_ a hole! This is the lair of Barron Battle and you better show that some respect! Don't you remember that only a few hours ago you were some do-gooding hero?'

'Yeah I remember, unfortunately!' he sneered. 'But I also know that I am way more powerful than you are and so I don't see why I should have to bow down to your authority. What little of it that exists anyway.'

'You may have a greater power but Barron Battle trusts me, will take my word for things and if I say that you were causing problems I can assure you, you will regret doing this,' replied Vader hoping his voice wasn't trembling as much as his insides were.

'Well I don't think you'll be saying anything soon,' replied the man who stepped out of the crowd and in one quick motion had snapped Vader's neck.

The Commander stood at the head of the crowd and discarded the body.

'Right, who can get us out of here? I say it's time to cause some damage!'


	21. Chapter 21

It was mid-afternoon before the HCC let the children go home. They were exhausted and Ethan so much so that he was dangerously close to liquefying on the spot. His parents had been given a big Tupperware box 'in case of an emergency'.

Warren and Crystal walked like zombies into the house and collapsed onto the sofa while Tullia whipped up pancakes for them but by the time she'd brought them over, the two children were asleep. She smiled and drew a blanket over them as Crystal's head lolled on Warren's shoulder, just as it had that night in the hospital.

She retreated into the kitchen where she flicked on the TV while she cleared away the untouched pancakes.

'We bring you breaking news this afternoon ladies and gentlemen,' said the reporter on the screen. 'Disturbing and unimaginable as it may seem, the heroes of the world are attacking! They are causing the very damage they usually fight so hard against. The Commander and Jetstream have already taken out several television and radio transmitters while below them the city is being torn apart. It is not safe and we urge you to remain in your houses. Do not approach any hero. They may have been compro-.'

The report cut out. Tullia stood, staring in shock at the screen, unable to believe what she had just witnessed. She was jolted out of her trance by the jangling of the telephone, which she dived for, anxious not to wake Warren and Crystal.

'Hello?' she asked.

'Tullia, it's James. I'm sure you know what's going on. We're calling all uncompromised heroes back to the HCC so we can strategise an orderly retaliation. We'll need your power to aid the negotiations – tempers are already frayed as I'm sure you can appreciate.'

'But the kids…' she said.

'You'll have to bring them with you. I know they've had no sleep but I'm sure we can do something for them here.' He sounded exhausted himself but he wouldn't rest until his family was reunited.

'Ok, I'll be right there. I'll just wake the kids,' she said resignedly.

'We've sent transport. It should be pulling up any minute now.'

'Bye James,' she said and hung up.

Reluctantly she woke Warren and Crystal to explain the situation. They grabbed jackets and made their way to the waiting mini-van already filled with Ethan and his family and Layla and her mom. They picked up Dara and her family on the way back to the HCC. It was a bit of a squash but they made it.

On their arrival, the adults were ushered into a giant lecture hall while the children were escorted to a room full of the kids of the other heroes and sidekicks who were attending the meeting. They found Will already there who called them over to where he was sitting surrounded by other children.

As Warren moved towards him, the seats surrounding Will were hastily vacated by their former occupants and he slumped down in one of them while the rest of the gang sat down around him. One by one they fell asleep until once again they were rudely awaken but this time by Medulla.

'You need to come with me,' he said to them all before turning around and walking back to the lecture theatre.

Bemusedly the six children made their way to the meeting and followed Medulla down the steps and onto the stage.

'What's going on?' asked Warren.

'We have been talking for the past three hours as to how best rectify the situation and have come to the conclusion that we need to hit the heroes with a pulse or ray or beam to reverse their polarity so to speak. So we need your observations as to the nature of the weapon used.'

They looked at each other with blank expressions on their faces.

'Come on! Was it a ray or a beam or a pulse? Did you notice anything about its nature? Anything about the gun?' he asked with a hint of infuriation.

'I think he may have used a beam for the higher concentration of particles able to be contained within it,' said Dara, surprising everyone. She rarely showed it but Dara was actually quite smart.

'Yeah,' said Ethan before a look of realisation passed over his face and he began frantically exploring the many pockets of his jacket. Pens, scraps of paper, gum wrappers and bits of plastic and wire were thrown across the stage as the hall filled with the whisperings of the assembles heroes.

'What are you doing?' asked Layla.

'I thought I'd…No, wait…Here it is!' he finally came out with producing a small black gun from his pocket and waving it about in the air.

The crowd gave a collective gasp and Will forcibly lowered his friend's arm. Smart as he may be, Ethan didn't really have a great deal of common sense sometimes.

'What is that?' asked Medulla.

'It's a gun from one of Barron Battle's men. He was in the pile of bodies and I liquefied it out of his holster. Maybe it's what Barron was using on the heroes.'

Medulla looked as though he could have kissed Ethan and the veins in his giant head started pulsing furiously as millions of thoughts fired around his giant cranium.

'And what were you planning on doing with it? Why were you keeping this from me? Did you just _forget_ that you had it?' he exploded. 'Actually, that doesn't matter. I have work to do. Ethan you may have just saved all our asses…behinds…lives, whatever!' he cried and ran up the stairs presumably to some lab in the building.

'Right,' said James, making his presence felt on the stage for the first time since the children had arrived. 'Now that you've managed to save us again, I think we can take a break. There will be refreshments served in the dining hall for everyone. We won't be meeting again until Mr. Medulla has come up with a solution so feel free to make yourselves comfortable but you are asked to remain in the building.'

Everyone gladly made their way towards the food having realised the last time they ate was lunch yesterday and seeing as it was 7pm now they were actually starving. Having piled their plates high, the six of them sat in the corner eating for all their worth, except Will who pushed his food around the plate.

'Come on, Will. You have to eat something,' implored Layla. 'I know you're worried but you haven't eaten in hours and you could get sick. You've never used your powers so much before, your body must be exhausted.'

He was about to snap back at her but Warren cuffed him on the shoulder. 'Play nice and do what the lady says,' he growled.

Will shot him a resentful look but began eating much to the relief of everyone in the group. They hadn't wanted another fight to start.

'So,' said Crystal in an attempt to lighten the mood, 'that'll be twice Ethan has saved us all then, and in the same day. I bet there aren't many superheroes who can say they've done that. Oooo maybe there will be Ethan Davies day!'

'And we all dress like Ethan! And have to be really smart!' cried out Dara.

And so the tension was broken as everyone started discussing what Ethan day would be like and for a moment they all forgot why they were in the HCC. It was almost as though they were facing anything other than the destruction of their city. But like all good things it was soon over as they were all brought back to reality with a jolt.

Someone had been flicking through the channels on the TV on the other side of the room when suddenly the Commander's booming voice echoed through the speakers. At once Will's head snapped up and he practically ran to the set, pushing other people out of the way. Everyone in the room stared in disbelief at what they were being shown.

The Commander's face filled the screen but this was not the face they all knew and loved. The eyes were hard, the lines in his face were set and Layla barely recognised him as the man with whom she had had breakfast with on numerous occasions while waiting for Will to appear.

'We have taken over the city. The earth and sky are under our control and all television and radio stations' transmitters have been destroyed. Lines of communication are down and we are currently disabling the satellites. However if you hand over the fine men in your prisons we will spare your lives and instead let you experience the liberating feeling of pure evil. You have one hour to free these men or you will face the consequences.'

The screen went blank and was replaced with a timer counting down.


End file.
